John Grass, or Charging Bear, was a beloved leader of the Teton Sioux and an ardent supporter of the war effort. July of 1917, although weakened by a prolonged illness, the elderly chief accepted the vice-chairmanship of the Red Cross for Sioux County. He stated that as a young man he went to war many times, but his thoughts were not of death but of honor. Although it caused him great grief to see his children going into battle, there was joy in his heart to know they were not cowards.