AMONG MY SOUVENIRS

Another grey and wet day. Something bright is in order.

October is a contemplative month so I thought I would do a short series on disparate memories. Many of my friends and acquaintances have birthdays in October.

The 27th of October is the birthday of Joseph Medicine Crow who recently received the Medal of Honor from President Obama. He will be 96.

He gave me the moccasins in this picture long ago and they have traveled many a mile and always on my feet.

Joe is a member of the Crow Tribe, of course. When I was on the Crow reservation researching and writing a paper on the tribe Joe, being an anthropologist, was my chief source of information. He is an authority on all things tribal and on the Battle of Little Big Horn, especially. One of his ancestors, White Man Runs Him, was a scout for General Custer.

A better source of information on that battle is the book "Black Elk Speaks." Black Elk, a nephew of the great Sioux chief, Crazy Horse, was 12 at the time of the battle and was a witness to it. The book, by Joseph Neihardt, is almost entirely Black Elk's narrative. My copy of the book has the name "Loon Feather" on the fly leaf, followed by "George W. Blodgett", followed by "Red Robin". I wheedled my copy from Red Robin. It is a battered first edition but it is now out in paperback and has been for some time.

The battle scene is so vividly described by Black Elk and other witnesses that my hair stood on end as I read it. When Joe offered to take me out to the battlefield I didn't want to go to the scene of such carnage but I did.

It is now one of the most beautiful of my memories. It was a sunny day, the hills were dry and golden, the Montana skies were broad and blue. A gentle breeze was blowing. There was not a single other person there. When we arrived at the scene I felt a great sense of home coming. I have no idea why. We sat on a hillside. Some of the cavalry soldiers were buried where they fell, some obviously trying to escape. Their graves are marked. I looked out over the long valleys and hills and remembered the words of Black Elk, the scene he set, and the reports of others who were witness to the battle. Joe said nothing. I said nothing. We sat in silence for a long time.

Joe seems to talk a lot more now than he used to do. I thought he was old then. I was wrong. There is a Face Book entry for him but it is not authorized by him and one of his granddaughters has lodged a protest.

There are a lot of references to him on the Internet, including videos wherein he speaks his own memories. I am not included. I shouldn't think he remembers me, but I remember him.

The first pic on this site is very like the view I had except there was no fence. Custer Battlefield



Happy Birthday -- Maria Luisa, Catriona, Enid, Stanley, Fiona, Anita, Robert