After Joseph Medicine Crow returned from World War II, the Crow tribal elders asked him to recount his experiences in the war - little did he know that there was more than simple curiosity behind the request. The elders had been looking for traditional war deeds; Joe was as surprised as anyone when they declared that he had completed everything needed to be a chief in the traditional way. He was also given a new name; no longer was he Winter Man with the tribe, instead he was given the name of a great Crow who had passed away long before. he was now High Bird.
Apart from being made a chief, Medicine Crow also served for decades as the official anthropologist and historian for the Crow Nation, curating an archive of important documents, photographs, and oral histories.
He continued to advocate for the importance of education and preserving knowledge. He lectured at universities, national historic sites, and other public institutions for most of his life. He served with the Crow Education Commission for more than forty years, and was awarded three honorary doctorates in recognition of his academic service; one from Rocky Mountain College, one from Bacone College where he started his academic career and served for decades as an ambassador and regular commencement speaker, and one from the University of Southern California, where he earned his masters degree and also completed all required classroom work for a PhD before he left to serve in World War II.
In 2009, President Barak Obama awarded Medicine Crow the Precedential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, after the US Senate failed to award him a Congressional Gold Medal.
US Army Technician 5th Grade Dr. High Bird Joseph Medicine Crow died in Billings, Montana on April 3, 2016, at 102 years old. He was interred Apsaalooke Veterans Cemetery on the Crow Reservation in Big Horn County, Montana.
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