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https://apnews.com/article/wounded-knee-hegseth-soldiers-medal-of-honor-0310c47952ad7aeabb176f94d8af4d52>
"WASHINGTON (
AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he has
decided that the 19 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for their actions
in 1890 at Wounded Knee will keep their awards in a video posted to social
media Thursday evening.
Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, ordered the review of the awards in 2024
after a congressional recommendation in the 2022 defense bill — itself a
reflection of efforts by some lawmakers to rescind the awards for those who
participated in the bloody massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek.
While the events of that day are sometimes described as a battle, historical
records show that the U.S. Army, which was in the midst of a campaign to
repress the tribes in the area, killed an estimated 250 Native Americans,
including women and children, of the Lakota Sioux tribe, while attempting to
disarm Native American fighters who had already surrendered at their camp.
“We’re making it clear that (the soldiers) deserve those medals,” Hegseth said
in the video, before adding that “their place in our nation’s history is no
longer up for debate.”
After the fighting, Medals of Honor were given to 19 soldiers from the 7th
Cavalry Regiment, and their awards cite a range of actions, including bravery,
efforts to rescue fellow troops and actions to “dislodge Sioux Indians” who
were concealed in a ravine.
The event became a celebrated part of the regiment’s history, with its coat of
arms still featuring the head of a Native American chief to “commemorate Indian
campaigns,” according to the military’s Institute of Heraldry.
In 1990, Congress apologized to the descendants of those killed at Wounded Knee
but did not revoke the medals.
According to Hegseth, the review panel ordered by Austin “concluded that these
brave soldiers should, in fact, rightfully keep their medals from actions,” but
an official from the defense secretary’s office couldn’t say if the report he
was referencing in the video would be made public."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
