Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has directed the Defense Department to review the Medals of Honor awarded to approximately 20 soldiers for their actions during the December 1890 engagement at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, to ensure no awardees were recognized for conduct inconsistent with the nation's highest military honor.
Austin Orders Review Of Wounded Knee Medals
Joseph Clark for DoD News
DOD's Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness will convene a special review panel to conduct an individualized assessment based on standards in effect during that period.
The scope of the panel's review is limited to examining each Medal of Honor awardee's individual actions during the engagement at Wounded Knee Creek. However, “The [special review panel] may consider the context of the overall engagement as appropriate, including as necessary to understand each [Wounded Knee Creek Medal of Honor] recipient's individual actions,” Austin wrote in a memorandum directing the review, which was released today.
Austin signed the memorandum last week following department consultation with the White House and Department of the Interior.
“It's never too late to do what's right,” a senior defense official said in an interview this week. “And that's what is intended by the review that the secretary directed, which is to ensure that we go back and review each of these medals in a rigorous and individualized manner to understand the actions of the individual in the context of the overall engagement.”
The official noted that the review is warranted based on a range of factors, including a congressional recommendation to review the awards included in the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
The panel will provide Austin with a recommendation to either retain or rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for actions related to the Wounded Knee engagement, which resulted in the death and injury of approximately 350 to 375 Native American men, women and children, according to a 1990 Senate resolution.
That resolution, which marked the 100th anniversary of Wounded Knee, referred to the engagement as a massacre and expressed “deep regret on behalf of the United States to the descendants of the victims and survivors and their respective tribal communities.”
The panel will include at least five experts, including two from the Department of the Interior. It will provide a written report of findings and recommendations by mid-October. Austin will then provide his recommendations to the president.
The secretary of the Army will provide historical records for the review no later than July 26. The Army will include everything associated with the award recommendations for each soldier, the personnel file for each awardee, copies of any Army reports into the actions at Wounded Knee Creek and any other known historical documents salient to the engagement.
The secretary of the Army will provide support to the panel throughout the review, including document retrieval and answering requests for information about the events at Wounded Knee Creek.
Defense officials noted that the department regularly reviews awards for upgrades. The Executive Branch has also conducted reviews to determine whether previous awards should be rescinded, including one in 1916 that led to 911 Medals of Honor being revoked.
The officials noted that the standards for awarding the Medal of Honor have evolved over time, and the review would be held in accordance with the standards in place at the time, as well as the context surrounding the actions at Wounded Knee.
The panel will also consider other relevant laws and regulations, such as those relating to fundamental protections for noncombatants.
“This is not a retrospective review,” one official said. “We're applying the standards at the time. And that's critical because we want to make sure that as these are reviewed and as a recommendation is made to the secretary and then to the president that we have applied the standards appropriately, while ensuring that we look at the context.”
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I am glad to know that DOD has nothing more important to worry about but medals that were awarded 134 years ago. No one involved in the actions for which the medals were awarded and I suspect no real detailed written records exist so exactly how are they going to second guess the people who were in charge at the time??
after 130-some years they are going to pull soldiers medals ?, while as a largely native descendant I may not agree with the battle, or its hero’s this progressiveness, is beyond the pale and a waste of taxpayer resources as well as a waste of DoD funds which are Finite and limited, It might be better to Defund the SecDef office and go back to having a WAR-Dept.
With the SecDef as the prosecutor, glorying in has standing as A Person Of Colour (flourishes, filigrees), I wonder if the soldiers will be allowed a defense attorney.
Really? You PANDERING PUNK. You should be ashamed of yourself!! Smh, can’t wait until you are fired and jailed in January. #TrumpVance2024ToSaveAmerica
Let’s stop the nonsense of trying to rewrite history
Our government is bloated spending money on nonsensical busy work
No doubt many atrocities were committed by the troops against the American Indians. I just wish “we” stopped trying to review the past and attempt to make up for bad history, change bad history – and just give more respect and lots of aid to the survivors of those tribes in today’s world. American Indians are still treated unfairly living on reservations so poorly with many needs unfulfilled by our federal government. Yes, many tribes are getting rich with their casinos and I am HAPPY for them – but I know we should and could do a lot better for them than revisit the potential crimes of soldiers back in the late 1800s. Just sayin’….
I guess they have nothing better to do than review medals of honor eons ago.
as soldiers, they did what they were commanded to do. they followed orders.
ok, so now, let’s go back and start looking at others- John McCane comes to mind first.
Heres a thought Lloyd, hiw about revisiting all the Officers that received inflated medals and rewards during Iraq and Afghanistan! And even better than that, how about all the frontline warfighters that had their awards downgraded because the powers that be stomped on them, no medal bestowed, but medal earned and honor upheld. I served with Austin when he was part of the 10th Mountain Div, he is NOT the same man now, truly sad and concerning, as he was a good Officer when I knew him.
They are going to use the standards of the time? Why do I think they are going to use the standards of today applied to events 134 years ago?
Heres a thought Lloyd, hiw about revisiting all the Officers that received inflated medals and rewards during Iraq and Afghanistan! And even better than that, how about all the frontline warfighters that had their awards downgraded because the powers that be stomped on them, no medal bestowed, but medal earned and honor upheld. I served with Austin when he was part of the 10th Mountain Div, he is NOT the same man now, truly sad and concerning, as he was a good Officer when I knew him.