IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 403 

Honoring and recognizing the military service and contributions of Native 

American veterans and communities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2019 

Mr. GALLEGO submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on 

Natural Resources, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring and recognizing the military service and 

contributions of Native American veterans and communities. 

Whereas the contributions, sacrifices, and disproportionate 

service of Native American veterans has been integral to 

the success of the United States military over the course 

of its history; 

Whereas Native American veterans have served with distinction in the United States military in every major conflict 

for over 200 years, earning Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, 

Silver Stars, Congressional Gold Medals, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and other medals, awards, and 

decorations; 

Whereas, during the Revolutionary War— 


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(1) the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Tribes heeded General George Washington’s call on December 24, 

1776, for supplemental troops for his army by sending 

600 of their own to fight on behalf of the American Revolution; 

(2) the Delaware Tribe signed the Treaty of Fort 

Pitt with the United States in 1778 to provide Native 

troops and grant Americans permission to stage attacks 

on the British from Delaware territory; and 

(3) the Oneida Nation fought alongside American 

soldiers in the battles of Oriskany and Saratoga, providing critical support that prevented an early American 

defeat in the Revolution; 

Whereas, during the American Civil War— 

(1) roughly 3,600 Native Americans served in the 

Union Army; and 

(2) General Ely S. Parker, a Seneca Indian, adjutant, and secretary to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. 

Grant, contributed to the brokering of peace by drafting 

the final articles of Confederate surrender signed by General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 

9, 1865; 

Whereas more than 12,000 Native Americans served in 

World War I, many of whom were not conscripted, but 

had volunteered to serve despite the fact that one-third 

of all Native Americans still had not been granted full 

citizenship by the United States Government at the time; 

Whereas the Choctaw Indians, largely without American citizenship status, stationed at battlefield command posts pioneered the use of Native American languages to encode 

United States military communications, successfully protected United States and Allied troops, supply locations, 


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and plans from enemy intelligence, ensured the security 

of Allied resources and Allied lives, and contributed to 

the Allied victory in World War I; 

Whereas over one-third of able-bodied Native American men 

between the ages of 18 and 50 and as much as 70 percent of certain tribal populations served during World 

War II, representing the highest per capita contribution 

to the total war effort of any demographic group in the 

United States; 

Whereas United States Marine Corporal Ira Hayes, a Pima 

Indian born in Sacaton, Arizona, fought in the Battle of 

Iwo Jima and was 1 of the 6 servicemembers immortalized in an iconic photograph raising an American flag 

over Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945; 

Whereas the United States World War II mobilization efforts 

infringed on several Indian reservations, diminished the 

influence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs within Congress 

by moving its Washington office to Chicago, cut funding 

for Indian programs, and caused a shortage of nurses 

and doctors on reservations as medical professionals 

joined military operations; 

Whereas the United States Government’s annexation of Indian land for the establishment of Japanese internment 

camps on the Gila and Colorado River Indian Reservations (Mohave and Chemehuevi) in Arizona occurred 

without the prior consultation of the tribes impacted; 

Whereas over 400 Native Americans served integral roles in 

World War II as ‘‘code talkers’’, employing their knowledge of Navajo and other Native American languages 

(which the United States Government had long attempted to suppress through the forcible assimilation of 


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Native children in church and Government-sponsored 

Anglophone boarding schools since the late 1800s) to develop unbreakable codes to send messages across the Pacific; 

Whereas Navajo Code Talkers contributed to every Pacific 

Marine-led assault from 1942 to 1945, including Iwo 

Jima, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Peleliu, and in 2001, 28 

Navajo Code Talkers received Congressional Gold Medals, mostly posthumously; 

Whereas 42,000 Native Americans served in the Vietnam 

War, over 90 percent of them volunteers, and the names 

of 232 American Indian and Alaska Natives who were 

killed in combat or went missing in action are etched on 

the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC; 

Whereas over 10,000 Native Americans served in the Korean 

War and 194 were killed in combat; 

Whereas Lori Ann Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe 

born in Tuba City, Arizona, was the first Native American woman in the United States military killed in the 

Iraq War, the first Native American woman in history to 

die in combat on March 23, 2003, while serving in the 

United States military, and was extolled by her surviving 

servicemembers as the heroine of the ambush in which 

she died; 

Whereas roughly 31,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives are currently on active duty, serving in Afghanistan, 

Iraq, and around the world, where they continue to serve 

in greater numbers per capita than any other demographic group; 

Whereas Native American women serve in our Armed Forces 

at disproportionately high rates; and 


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Whereas Native American veterans experience higher rates of 

homelessness and substance abuse than other groups, 

and face limited access to medical care due to the shortcomings of the Department of Veteran Affairs in administering culturally sensitive treatment and establishing facilities within accessible distances to rural reservations: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) honors the disproportionately high military 

3 service, sacrifice, and patriotism of Native American 

4 veterans; 

5 (2) recognizes the indispensable contributions of 

6 Native Americans in advancing United States inter7 ests, military successes, and global stability, often as 

8 the United States Government failed to fulfill its 

9 Federal trust responsibility and protect Tribal treaty 

10 rights, lands, and resources; and 

11 (3) commits to addressing the unique hardships 

12 and inequities faced by Native veterans, servicemem13 bers, and Gold Star families as well as upholding 

14 our Nation’s solemn responsibilities to support the 

15 indigenous communities and Tribes that continue to 

16 serve our country since our Nation’s founding. 

Æ 


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