My comment is just for historical reference and not in any way a diminishment of Mr. Medicine Crows achievements.
One comment states a question of how he stole a horse in WW2 as though there wouldn’t be horses. This is a common misunderstanding. Though it was the worlds first large scale “modern mechanized war” and imagery and evidence if the massive production of war machines are ubiquitous- the world of the time was a much different world than most people often realize. It was not so far removed from the “frontier” or “rural” or “agrarian” sort of world that people picture more as the 1800’s or earlier centuries. Horses we’re still fairly common as were beasts of burden when it came to war. The machines if the day will still primitive and despite the volume of mass production there were still shortages and all manner of remote places and other situations that would make things like seeing artillery cannons towed by horse or runways tamped and cleared by animal labor common enough.
To be clear- horses were rarely used in combat by this point- there were exceptions such as where terrain or circumstances made horses prudent in battle- but horses were extensively used along with donkeys for the transport of troops and supplies by many major forces such as the United States and the Nazis. I mean- the well known SS officers uniform LITERALLY consists of iconic RIDING boots. That wasn’t a purely aesthetic choice- riding a horse was something common enough to expect that incorporating riding boots into a uniform made practical sense.
One comment states a question of how he stole a horse in WW2 as though there wouldn’t be horses. This is a common misunderstanding. Though it was the worlds first large scale “modern mechanized war” and imagery and evidence if the massive production of war machines are ubiquitous- the world of the time was a much different world than most people often realize. It was not so far removed from the “frontier” or “rural” or “agrarian” sort of world that people picture more as the 1800’s or earlier centuries. Horses we’re still fairly common as were beasts of burden when it came to war. The machines if the day will still primitive and despite the volume of mass production there were still shortages and all manner of remote places and other situations that would make things like seeing artillery cannons towed by horse or runways tamped and cleared by animal labor common enough.