Panelist: Misplaced Focus Doomed Wounded Knee Medal Review

Panelist: Misplaced focus doomed Wounded Knee medal review

( Editor’s Note: Searchlight’s Seth Tupper and Topic Editor/Publisher Jon Flatland contributed to this story.) A man who served on the panel that reviewed medals awarded for the Wounded Knee Massacre said a majority of the members focused on individual soldier conduct at the expense of the broader issue: whether any medals should be awarded for a massacre. Wizipan Little Elk Garriott, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, told Sou…

Hegseth’s own decision may be final, but the Wounded Knee medals debate is not over

A monument honoring victims of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre stands near the massacre's mass grave site on June 30, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced recently that the Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. soldiers for their actions at Wounded Knee Creek on Dec. 29, 1890, will not be rescinded. His decision was based on the October 2024 recommendation of a five-member special review panel that vot…