He later became famous for saying that no one truly wins a war.

One side might win a battle, but everyone carries losses away from it.

The German prisoner was an enemy soldier in a war against a genocidal regime.

Medicine Crow did not confuse that fact with the idea that every individual encounter required killing.

He had completed a deed.

He had also chosen mercy.

That combination would remain central to the way people remembered him.

The War Party In A Mechanized War

Another requirement for becoming a war chief involved leadership: successfully leading a war party.

The phrase “war party” came from a military culture very different from the U.S.