Hegseth says soldiers from Wounded Knee will keep Medals of Honor

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that U.S. soldiers who received Medals of Honor from the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre will be permitted to keep them, reviving a debate about a fraught moment in Native American history.

The administration of President Joe Biden ordered a review of 20 medals that were given to soldiers who participated in the massacre, during which the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry opened fire on hundreds of Native Americans. The troops killed an estimated 350 Lakota people in an area of South Dakota that is now part of the Pine Ridge Reservation.

In a video posted on social media, Hegseth said the review found the soldiers should keep the medals but that his predecessor at the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, was “more interested in being politically correct than historically correct.”

“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, and we’re making it clear that they deserve those medals,” Hegseth said.

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military honor, and it was awarded with less scrutiny during the Indian Wars than it is today. Some of the soldiers who received the award after the massacre were lauded for simply “distinguished bravery,” according to a memo that Austin issued ordering the review.

In announcing the review in July 2024, the Defense Department said Austin wanted to “ensure no awardees were recognized for conduct inconsistent with the nation’s highest military honor.” Austin asked for a written report on the review’s findings by Oct. 15 of that year.

Hegseth said the review was completed that month and made a “clear recommendation” that the soldiers should retain the medals. Austin, however, “chose not to make a final decision,” Hegseth said.

“Such careless inaction has allowed for their distinguished recognition to remain in limbo until now,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth has promised to “prioritize warfighting over wokeness” at the Pentagon and has sought to dismantle initiatives related to gender, race and diversity. Earlier this week, his department announced it was shuttering an advisory group that helps support female service members, accusing it of a “divisive feminist agenda.”

The Medals of Honor from Wounded Knee have long been a focus of Democrats and advocate groups who believe the United States needs to do more to recognize its role in oppressing Native Americans. In Congress, Democrats have regularly pushed legislation to revoke the medals.

“We cannot be a country that celebrates and rewards horrifying acts of violence against Native people,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said in a statement earlier this year after reintroducing the proposal, the Remove the Stain Act.