Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday that American soldiers honored after their actions in 1890 near Wounded Knee should be recognized as heroes and keep their Medals of Honor, a decision that incurred criticism.
20 U.S. soldiers from the 7th Cavalry Regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor for the deadly massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek, in which the U.S. troops killed between 250-300 Lakota Native Americans, while about 25 American soldiers died as well. In 1990, on the 100th anniversary of the incident, Congress issued a formal apology to the descendants of the Native Americans killed there, but did not revoke the medals.
“No one asked for this. It’s absurd, disgusting, racist, and beyond unnecessary. And will only serve to further narrow military diversity by driving Native American recruits away,” Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said. “What’s next, medals for My Lai?”
Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, ordered a review of the awards in 2024 after a Congressional recommendation in the 2022 defense bill.
Hegseth said in a video announcement on Thursday that the review “concluded that these brave soldiers should, in fact, rightfully keep their medals from actions in 1890.”
“Yet despite this clear recommendation former secretary Lloyd Austin, for whatever reason, I think we know he was more interested in being politically correct than historically correct, chose not to make a final decision. Such careless inaction has allowed for their distinguished recognition to remain in limbo until now,” he continued.
Earlier this year, a handful of Democrats reintroduced legislation to strip the medals. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) along with Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) reintroduced the Remove the Stain Act in May, which aimed to “strip the Medal of Honor from soldiers who participated in the slaughter of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at the Wounded Knee massacre.”
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During Hegseth’s tenure as secretary, he has reversed several decisions regarding the military’s remembrance of military history. He has ordered the renaming of the military bases that had been changed under the Biden administration due to their ties to Confederate leaders.
Hegseth and the department found other heroes worthy of honor that shared the names of the Confederate leaders to bring back the old base names without actually restoring the namesakes.
