The Incredible Story of 103-Year Old Joe Medicine Crow

Joe Medicine Crow is about to turn 103 on October 27th. He's the last Plains Indian war chief. And he became a war chief in Nazi Germany, during World War II.

Joe Medicine Crow is an author, a Crow historian, an anthropologist and a lecturer. He's an expert on the Battle of Little Big Horn; his step-grandfather was White Man Runs Him, a scout for George Custer (an interesting story in itself). Joe was raised to be a Crow warrior and went off in 1943 with the U.S. Army to fight in Europe.

BUT, to be a Crow war chief, you had to accomplish four things:

1. Lead a successful war party

2. Touch an enemy without killing him.

3. Take an enemy's weapon, and...

4. Steal an enemy's horse.

You would think that last one would've been tough to do while fighting the hi-tech German Nazis - but Joe took care of it. PBS's Ken Burns said he waited 20 years to tell Joe's story. Finally, Ken got his chance when he put together his 2007 series called "The War":

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