WASHINGTON (AP) – Defense Secretary Pete Hegses announced that 20 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for their actions in 1890 in an injured knee have decided to maintain the award. Video posted on social media Thursday night.
Hegses’ predecessor, Lloyd Austin; Ordered a review of the award in 2024 After Congress’ recommendations in the 2022 defense bill, it itself reflects efforts by lawmakers who retracted the award for those who participated in the bloody massacre at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota near injured Nee Creek.
Events of the day are sometimes described as battles, but historical records show that US forces in a campaign to suppress tribes in the region killed an estimated 250 Native Americans, including Lakota Sioux women and children, and attempted to arm Native American fighters who had already surrendered in the camp.
“We are making clear that (the soldiers) deserve these medals,” Heggs said in the video, adding, “Their place in the history of our country is no longer controversial.”
After the battle, 20 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment are awarded medals of honor, and their awards cite a variety of actions, including courage, efforts to rescue fellow troops, and efforts to save actions to “drove the Sue Indians.”
The event also became a well-known part of the regiment’s history. Coat of arms featuring the head of a Native American chief According to the Military Heraldic Institute, “to commemorate the Indian campaign.”
In 1990, Congress apologised to the descendants of those killed in injured knees, but did not revoke the medals.
According to Hegseth, the Austin-ordered judge board concluded that “these brave soldiers should actually protect the medals from action,” but officials from the Secretary of Defense Office cannot say whether the reports referenced in the video will be made public.
Published by President Donald Trump Presidential Order In March, the title, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which denounced efforts to reinterpret American history, has since carried out multiple actions that have destroyed the recommendations of a Congress mandated by Congress that considered the use of Confederate names and references in the military.
He returned to names of several army bases, honoring different people, to names associated with their former Confederate forces.
Hegseth has also been restored Confederate monument in 1914 It was removed from Arlington National Cemetery. The monument features a classic female figure crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, and features disinfected depictions of slavery.
In September, the US Military Academy in West Point, New York confirmed that in 2022 a painting of General Robert E. Lee in a federal uniform was returned to the school’s library.
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