By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The National Congress of American Indians strongly condemned on Saturday a Pentagon review that decided against revoking medals awarded to U.S. soldiers at the 1890 Battle of Wounded Knee, an event which many historians consider a massacre.
“Celebrating war crimes is not patriotic. This decision undermines truth-telling, reconciliation, and the healing that Indian Country and the United States still need,” Larry Wright Jr., the Congress’ executive director, said in a statement.
The Battle of Wounded Knee, also known as the Wounded Knee Massacre, took place on Dec. 29, 1890, in South Dakota, when U.S. soldiers killed and wounded more than 300 Lakota Sioux men, women and children.
Lloyd Austin, who was the Biden administration’s defense secretary, had ordered a review of the military honors but had not made a final decision before leaving office in January.
In a video posted on X late on Thursday, President Donald Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said a review panel had recommended allowing the soldiers keep their medals in a study completed last year, and that he followed that recommendation.
“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,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth criticized Austin for not taking the same decision, saying that the former Pentagon chief was more interested in being “politically correct than historically correct.”
A resolution passed by Congress in 1990 expressed “deep regret” for the conflict.
“It is proper and timely for the Congress of the United States of America to acknowledge… the historic significance of the Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek, to express its deep regret to the Sioux people and in particular to the descendants of the victims and survivors for this terrible tragedy,” the resolution said.
The events at Wounded Knee marked the end of the Indian wars, during which Native Americans were coerced to cede their lands and then forced onto reservations.
Hegseth has taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the Pentagon since he took office.
The Pentagon has ended commemorations of identity month celebrations, like Native American History Month and Black History Month.
The Pentagon drew fire earlier this year for briefly erasing online references to the Navajo Code Talkers, who developed an unbreakable code that helped Allied forces win World War Two.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
