Dan McLaughlin

03/17/2026

He didn’t just fight N***s — he became the last traditional Crow war chief… by stealing 50 of their horses.
In World War II, Joseph Medicine Crow, a 30-year-old Crow warrior, joined the U.S. Army. But he didn’t leave his heritage behind. Beneath his uniform, he wore war paint. Under his helmet, a sacred yellow eagle feather.
The Crow had four ancient requirements to become a war chief: touch an enemy without killing him, disarm an enemy, lead a successful war party, and capture an enemy’s horse.
In Europe, Medicine Crow did them all. He disarmed a German soldier in hand-to-hand combat. He led successful raids. In one fight, he choked a N**i soldier but let him live.
His boldest act came at night. At a German SS camp, Medicine Crow found about 50 horses. He crept into the camp, released the herd, and led them away — singing a traditional Crow honor song as he rode.
That daring raid fulfilled his final rite. He hadn’t just captured a horse — he’d taken fifty.
After the war, Medicine Crow became a historian, earned a master’s degree, and shared his people’s stories. In 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. When he passed in 2016, at age 102, he was honored as the last traditional Crow war chief — a title earned not on the plains of Montana, but on the battlefields of Europe.
Had you heard of Joseph Medicine Crow before? What do you think his story tells us about courage and tradition in modern times?

03/17/2026

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐥 🔥🔥
Sitting Bull was one of the revered leaders of the Sioux tribe. He was born around 1831 in the area between North Dakota and South Dakota, USA.
Sitting Bull became the chief of the Hunkpapa Sioux tribe in 1868. He participated in many battles to protect his tribe's land from US government invasion.
In 1876, during the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes to fight against the US army and defeat General Custer in a famous battle. However, after this victory, the US army increased pressure to suppress the Sioux tribe, and he was forced to leave his land.
After the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull lived in adventure and evaded government pursuit. However, he returned to public life and became a key figure in the Sioux tribe's final resistance in the early 20th century.
Sitting Bull was not only famous as a talented and dedicated leader of his tribe, but also as a prophet and religious figure of the tribe. He helped preserve the culture and traditions of the Sioux tribe and always emphasized the connection between humans and nature.
However, in 1890, the US government attacked the Sioux tribe at Pine Ridge Reservation, where Sitting Bull was living. He was killed on December 15, 1890 during this attack. After his death, he became an icon of Native American resistance.

03/16/2026

(left to right) Spotted Tail, Morningstar aka Dull Knife, Old Man Afraid of His Horse, Lone Horn, Whistling Elk, Pipe, and Slow Bull. We have two grandfathers in this photo. Seated second to the far left is Morningstar aka Dull Knife, the Cheyenne head man. In American archives he is identified as Roman Nose. In reality we told the Americans that Dull Knife was visiting many tipis during our time there so we kiddingly referred to him as "a roaming nose" but the Americans took it literally and now the American records has him recorded as Roman Nose. Seated in the center is Lone Horn, Crazy Horse's maternal uncle. Lone Horn submitted a proposal for an agency apart from Spotted Tail's and Red Cloud's agency. It encompassed the graves of all our family's relatives inside the agency (today they call the agencies reservations) and was adopted by Crazy Horse to be the template of the Crazy Horse Agency which encompassed the Black Hills also. The American military granted him this agency but before it was implemented, Crazy Horse was assassinated with a soldier's bayonet. The agreement for the Crazy horse Agency still sits in Washington DC as a classified document. Stories about Lone Horn and Dull Knife are included in our oral history book "Crazy Horse the Lakota Warrior's Life and Legacy"

03/15/2026

Billy Walkabout (March 31, 1949 – March 7, 2007) is thought to be the most decorated Native American soldier of the Vietnam War. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, five Silver Stars (one upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross), ten Bronze Star Medal, five with Valor device, one Army Commendation Medals (including one valor device and two oak leaf clusters), and six Purple Hearts.
Walkabout served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam, in the Company F, 58th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. Walkabout (then Specialist Four) distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 20 November 1968 during a long range reconnaissance patrol southwest of Hue.
After successfully ambushing an enemy squad on a jungle trail, the friendly patrol radioed for immediate helicopter extraction. When the extraction helicopters arrived and the lead man began moving toward the pick-up zone, he was seriously wounded by hostile automatic weapons fire. Sergeant Walkabout quickly rose to his feet and delivered steady suppressive fire on the attackers while other team members pulled the wounded man back to their ranks. Sergeant Walkabout then administered first aid to the soldier in preparation for medical evacuation. As the man was being loaded onto the evacuation helicopter, enemy elements again attacked the team.
Maneuvering under heavy fire, Sergeant Walkabout positioned himself where the enemy were concentrating their assault and placed continuous rifle fire on the adversary. A command-detonated mine ripped through the friendly team, instantly killing three men and wounding all the others. Although stunned and wounded by the blast, Sergeant Walkabout rushed from man to man administering first aid, bandaging one soldier’s severe chest wound and reviving another soldier by heart massage. He then coordinated gunship and tactical air strikes on the enemy’s positions. When evacuation helicopters arrived again, he worked single-handedly under fire to board his disabled comrades. Only when the casualties had been evacuated and friendly reinforcements had arrived, did he allow himself to be extracted. He retired as a second lieutenant.
He suffered from complications arising from exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant used in Vietnam. He was waiting for a kidney transplant and took dialysis three times a week. He died of pneumonia and renal failure in a hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, survived by his wife and several children from earlier marriages.
He was honored in a portrait, Walkabout: A Warrior’s Spirit, by Cherokee artist Talmadge Davis.

03/14/2026

Our Navajo Code Talkers being honored during the drone show in Gallup, NM. ❤️🇺🇲🦅🎖
The Code Talkers used native languages to send military messages before World War II. Choctaw, for example, was successfully used during World War I. But the Marine Corps needed an “unbreakable” code for its island-hopping campaign in the Pacific. Navajo, which was unwritten and known by few outside the tribe, seemed to fit the Corps’ requirements.
Twenty-nine Navajos were recruited to develop the code in 1942. They took their language and developed a “Type One Code” that assigned a Navajo word to each English letter. They also created special words for planes, ships and weapons.
But just because a person understood Navajo didn’t mean they could understand the code. While a person fluent in the language would hear a message that translated into a list of words that seemingly had no connection to each other, a code talker would hear a very clear message.
Here is an example:
Navajo Code: DIBEH, AH-NAH, A-SHIN, BE, AH-DEEL-TAHI, D-AH, NA-AS-TSO-SI, THAN-ZIE, TLO-CHIN
Translation: SHEEP, EYES, NOSE, DEER, BLOW UP, TEA, MOUSE, TURKEY, ONION
Deciphered Code: SEND DEMOLITION TEAM TO …
In addition to being unbreakable, the new code also reduced the amount of time it took to transmit and receive secret messages. Because all 17 pages of the Navajo code were memorized, there was no need to encrypt and decipher messages with the aid of coding machines. So, instead of taking several minutes to send and receive one message, Navajo code talkers could send several messages within seconds. This made the Navajo code talker an important part of any Marine unit.

03/13/2026

03/13/2026

Native Americans have served in the US military with distinction for over 200 years.
Native American code talkers were vital to our victories in World Wars I and II.
More Native Americans per capita are on active duty in the US military than any other race.
There are over 150,000 Native American veterans.
27 Native Americans have received the Medal of Honor (our highest military honor).
When will America finally give Native Americans the liberty, justice and respect they deserve?

03/12/2026

"I am a United States Navy Veteran. I’m also Apache, as my grandfather is from the Mescalero Apache tribe.
Someone said it is disgraceful for me to wear a uniform for the USA if I am Native American.
Let me tell you this. I am Apache and American.
We do not come up with excuses not to serve or go to battle for our people."
Jose Garcia Acosta…

03/11/2026

Navajo Code Talkers
Navajo Nation Fair 1975
Window Rock, Az.

03/11/2026

During World War II, one soldier fought for more than victory — he fought to become a war chief.
His name was Joe Medicine Crow, a member of the Crow Nation, born in Montana in 1913. He grew up listening to stories of battles fought on horseback and learned the warrior traditions passed down by his grandfather, who had once ridden with Custer.
But by the time Joe went to war, the battlefield had changed.
As a scout for the U.S. Army’s 103rd Infantry Division, Joe operated deep behind enemy lines in Europe. And without planning it, he would go on to complete all four deeds his tribe required to earn the title of war chief — something no one had done in generations.
Touch an enemy without killing him:
Joe engaged in close combat with a German soldier and knocked him to the ground — sparing his life.
Take an enemy’s weapon:
He disarmed that same soldier and took his rifle.
Lead a successful war party:
He led a unit behind enemy lines — and brought every man back alive.
Steal an enemy’s horse:
In one of the boldest moves of the war, Joe infiltrated a German camp at night, stole 50 horses, and rode off singing a traditional Crow war song.
For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star and France’s Legion of Honor. But to the Crow Nation, his highest honor came later: he was officially named the last traditional war chief of the tribe.
After the war, Joe Medicine Crow became a historian, author, and cultural ambassador — ensuring the legacy of Native warriors didn’t fade with time.
Insight:
Joe Medicine Crow lived in two worlds — ancient and modern — and rode between them with courage, purpose, and a clear war cry.
One man. One mission. One stolen herd that made history.

03/10/2026

Patton’s Apache Battalion: The Men the US Was Afraid to Unleash in WWII
To the arrogance of the German high command, the men of the 45th division were nothing to fear. N**i propaganda dismissed them as racially inferior. They called them savages from the American West, undisiplined and primitive. But General George S. Patton, watching the invasion of Sicily through his binoculars on that July morning in 1943, saw something very different.
Where the Germans saw inferiority, Patton saw the ultimate weapon. He saw a lethal focus that no drill sergeant could teach. While regular army units were bogging down in the heavy surf of Skoiti, terrified by the mortar fire and the screaming chaos of the beach, the men of the 180th regiment were already moving. They were the Thunderbirds.
Thousands of them were Native Americans, Apaches, Cherokees, Chaktos, and Navajos, men who had been treated as secondclass citizens back home. But here on the burning sands of the Mediterranean, they were proving to be the most valiant soldiers on the field. Patton watched as they ignored the confusion that paralyzed other units.
He saw them slip out of the landing craft, not as a herd of panicked drafties, but as a coordinated pack. They didn't wait for orders. They didn't wait for the officers to read maps. They looked at the dry, rocky hills of Sicily, terrain that looked just like the badlands of New Mexico, and they knew exactly what to do.
While the superior German troops sat in their concrete bunkers waiting for a frontal assault, the Thunderbirds were already flanking them. They moved with a silence that unnerved the enemy. They communicated with hand signals and bird calls, cutting through the noise of battle. By the time the German machine gunners realized they were being hunted, the knife was already at their throat.

03/09/2026

The Navajo Code, which substituted or used words in their language for English words, was used to send messages on the battlefield between units and to headquarters. The code was never broken by the Japanese. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared Aug. 14 to be National Navajo Code Talkers Day.