Washington (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he has decided that the 20 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for the actions in 1890 at Wounded Knee will keep their awards Thursday evening.
Hegseth's predecessor, Lloyd Austin, after a Congressional recommendation in the 2022 defense bill — itself a reflection of efforts by some lawmakers to rescind the awards for those who participated in the bloody massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek.