Austin orders review Medal of Honor awards for Wounded Knee massacre

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a Pentagon board to review Medal of Honor awards for troops who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre, where Native American women and children were killed by U.S. soldiers in the deadliest mass shooting in the nation's history.

In a Wednesday memo to key staff, Austin directed the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness convene a special panel that will review each of the 20 soldiers who won a Medal of Honor award at Wounded Knee. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth is expected to provide historical records on the soldiers and the battle.

Austin said the board will look at each Medal of Honor recipient's record and service individually to "ensure no soldier was recognized for conduct that did not merit recognition under the standards applicable at the time."

Potential disqualifying actions for any soldiers would be intentionally directing an attack against a civilian or surrendering fighter, the murder or rape of a prisoner or any other acts of "immorality."

The review is expected no later than Oct. 15.

The Wounded Knee massacre came during a time when the U.S. military was battling Native Americans throughout the country as tribes resisted American dominance, especially in the Great Plains of the Midwest.

The 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment was enforcing a government ban on a Native American spiritual practice known as a Ghost Dance when soldiers arrested a band of Lakota tribe members and confined them at a camp near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota on Dec. 29, 1890.

During an attempt to recover weapons from the detainees, a gun was accidentally discharged, and U.S. soldiers opened fire. About 300 Lakota men, women and children died in the shooting.

At least 25 U.S. troops died, likely due to friendly fire.

The Wounded Knee massacre has remained one of the greatest historical blights on the U.S. military record, and the site is a place of remembrance for Native Americans. It also became a rallying cry for Native Americans pursuing civil rights in the 20th Century.

The U.S. revoked hundreds Medal of Honor awards, the highest military honor in the nation, related to World War I after Congress ordered a review in 1916.