- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced his department's decision to maintain the Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers who "fought at the Battle of Wounded Knee."
- Hegseth's announcement prompted indignant response from Native American leaders, who call Wounded Knee a "massacre."
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren vows to revoke Wounded Knee medals through legislation.
A painful chapter in American history is again making headlines following a recent social media post from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On his X account, Hegseth wrote that, under his direction, “the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Wounded Knee will keep their medals. This decision is final. Their place in history is settled.”
But for many Native Americans, there’s nothing final regarding Hegseth’s decision to maintain the Medals of Honor awarded to the 20 U.S. soldiers who were at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on Dec. 29, 1890, where hundreds of Native Americans were reportedly killed by army soldiers.
In a video attached to his X post, Hegseth said “under the previous administration,” a review panel was convened to determine whether American soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor “for their actions at the Battle of Wounded Knee” should keep their medals.
Upon deliberation, he added, that panel “concluded that these brave soldiers should, in fact, rightfully keep their medals.”
Yet despite the panel’s recommendation, Hegseth said, former Defense 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” on Austin’s part, said Hegseth, has allowed for the medal recipients’ “distinguished recognition” to remain in limbo — until now.
“Under my direction, we’re making it clear, without hesitation, that the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 will keep their medals,” he said. “And we’re making it clear that they deserve those medals.”
“This decision is now final — and their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate.
“We salute their memory. We honor their service. And we will never forget what they did.”
Native American leaders: Nothing about Wounded Knee is final
Hegseth’s remarks prompted quick response from several Native American leaders.
The Defense Department’s decision to maintain the Medals of Honor awarded to the U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee disregards the historical record “of the brutal, unprovoked and wrongful massacre of the Lakota” by the United States 7th Cavalry, according to a statement released by the National Congress of American Indians.
The National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country, according to its website.
Wounded Knee, the group’s statement added, was not a “battle.”
“It was the intentional mass killing of more than 350 unarmed Lakota men, women, and children seeking safety from invading U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee Creek.”
The events surrounding Wounded Knee, the statement added, are an atrocity that have been long recognized by historians, Tribal Nations and via the U.S. Senate’s 1990 “expression of regret” in the Concurrent Resolution 153.
Preserving the medals “champions the atrocious massacre” and compounds harm to Wounded Knee descendants — and all Native people, according to the group.
Added Janet Alkire, the chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a U.S. Air Force veteran: “The actions at Wounded Knee were not acts of bravery and valor deserving of the Medal of Honor. There is nothing Hegseth can do to rewrite the truth of that day.”
The group is demanding the Defense Department release the report used to make “this ahistorical decision,” reverse its course and meet with them and the leaders of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association.
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is vowing to keep pushing for the medals to be revoked through legislation, The Associated Press reported.
“We cannot be a country that celebrates and rewards horrifying acts of violence,” Warren said. “Secretary Hegseth is valorizing people who committed a massacre.”