The coups and humor of a great Crow war chiefA wizened old Native American's resume reads like a list of feats of a half-dozen CEOs putting education, patriotism and their people ahead of profits or personal gain.Ninety-seven-year-old Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow-High Bird from Lodge Grass, Mont., regaled the audience at the annual Native Ways Buffalo Feast Friday evening at Northwest College with his memories, insight, humor and humility.Medicine Crow is the last member of the Crow tribe to become a war chief.

In the building's hallway, recent photos show him posing with a grinning president and first lady after Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Medicine Crow merits respect, and he got it from a packed-house audience of about 250 people, along with plenty of laughter.

Medicine Crow's exploits on the battlefields of World War II are hair-raising, depicting an American hero and a warrior among his people, qualifying him as a war chief.

He also earned the Congressional Gold Medal, Bronze Star and Legion d'honneur, the highest decoration awarded in France.

In hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, Medicine Crow counted coup.

When his buddies were out of ammunition, Medicine Crow led other soldiers through a German mine-field amid blazing German machine guns and exploding grenades to replenish American munitions.

Horses are considered a major status symbol among Plains Indians. Medicine Crow stole 50 from Nazi officers while under fire, but he made light of his feat.

“Gee, it was great to be on a horse,” he remembered.

On a ridge, 200 German soldiers surrendered to Medicine Crow, who they saw standing alone, but apparently believed was serving as a decoy.

Some heros are humble; some, like Medicine Crow, mask their humility with humor.

“Sometimes, I wonder if they captured me and didn't know.”

Those feats, and others, completed the four tasks required for him to become a war chief: touching a living enemy soldier, disarming an enemy, leading a successful war party and stealing an enemy horse.

Medicine Crow received plenty of laughter during his meandering oration, but the room was deathly quiet when he recalled a concentration camp in Poland.

In a shed, Medicine Crow found dead bodies stacked like firewood, so emaciated that they resembled mummies. He recalled reeking barracks filled with starving Jews.

In the war zones of France, Italy and Germany, Medicine Crow glimpsed plenty of horror, but they paled in comparison to the concentration camp — “the worst place I've ever seen,” he said.

Medicine Crow, a hero by anyone's standards, made his stand long before hostilities in Europe and the Pacific.

Imagine an American Indian boy attending his first public school, unable to speak or write English. Fights would break out with the white boys.

“Every recess we'd fight,” Medicine Crow said.

Once after school, he feared a white girl was intent on duking it out too, but the lass had something else in mind.

Medicine Crow tried to mount his horse for a tactical retreat, but the girls surrounded him.

One girl gripped him by the head — then kissed him.

“So I started learning how to kiss,” Medicine Crow said. “Now, I can't quit.”

School was trying, but Medicine Crow got his bearings. In high school, tutors helped, he said.

Medicine Crow started pulling A's. He attended Linfield College in Portland, Ore. He made all-state honor society and won $50 in a writing contest. Then, he earned his master's degree from the University of Southern California.

He has two honorary doctorates, one from Rocky Mountain College in 1999, and the other from USC in 2003.

“He's lived a remarkable life,” said Mary Baumann, Northwest Native Ways advisor, when introducing Medicine Crow.

Baumann read through a list of his achievements.

Among other things, he wrote a handbook of Crow treaties and law, wrote bylaws for the tribal council and is executive for Crow Central Education Commission. Medicine Crow has written books, and he was the first Crow to earn a master's degree.

He has helped establish and preserve Crow history and culture and he is a good-will ambassador to all tribes and the public, Baumann said.

Wrapping up his presentation, Medicine Crow drummed and sang in his native tongue — first the song of his chief, Chief Plenty Coups, and then the song sung by his tribe in his honor.

Around the room, cowboy hats were removed respectfully.