By the end of his European service, Medicine Crow had fulfilled the traditional requirements recognized by his people.

He had made direct contact with an enemy in combat.

He had taken an enemy weapon.

He had successfully led men through a dangerous mission.

He had entered enemy-controlled ground and captured enemy horses.

The sequence sounds almost designed for legend.

What gives it unusual power is that the acts occurred inside thoroughly documented twentieth-century history.

Medicine Crow was not a figure placed in a timeless frontier myth.

He served in the United States Army in World War II.

He wore a standard uniform.