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 provi-
sions 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 distinc-
tion in the United States military in every major conflict 
for over 200 years, earning Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, 
Silver Stars, Congressional Gold Medals, the Congres-
sional Medal of Honor, and other medals, awards, and 
decorations; 
Whereas, during the Revolutionary War— 
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•HRES 403 IH 
(1) the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Tribes heed-
ed 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 Rev-
olution; 
(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, pro-
viding 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, adju-
tant, and secretary to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. 
Grant, contributed to the brokering of peace by drafting 
the final articles of Confederate surrender signed by Gen-
eral 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 citi-
zenship status, stationed at battlefield command posts pi-
oneered the use of Native American languages to encode 
United States military communications, successfully pro-
tected United States and Allied troops, supply locations, 
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•HRES 403 IH 
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 per-
cent 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 immor-
talized 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 In-
dian land for the establishment of Japanese internment 
camps on the Gila and Colorado River Indian Reserva-
tions (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 knowl-
edge of Navajo and other Native American languages 
(which the United States Government had long at-
tempted to suppress through the forcible assimilation of 
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•HRES 403 IH 
Native children in church and Government-sponsored 
Anglophone boarding schools since the late 1800s) to de-
velop unbreakable codes to send messages across the Pa-
cific; 
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 Med-
als, 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 Amer-
ican 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 Na-
tives 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 demo-
graphic group; 
Whereas Native American women serve in our Armed Forces 
at disproportionately high rates; and 
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•HRES 403 IH 
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 short-
comings of the Department of Veteran Affairs in admin-
istering culturally sensitive treatment and establishing fa-
cilities within accessible distances to rural reservations: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors the disproportionately high military 
service, sacrifice, and patriotism of Native American 
veterans; 
(2) recognizes the indispensable contributions of 
Native Americans in advancing United States inter-
ests, military successes, and global stability, often as 
the United States Government failed to fulfill its 
Federal trust responsibility and protect Tribal treaty 
rights, lands, and resources; and 
(3) commits to addressing the unique hardships 
and inequities faced by Native veterans, servicemem-
bers, and Gold Star families as well as upholding 
our Nation’s solemn responsibilities to support the 
indigenous communities and Tribes that continue to 
serve our country since our Nation’s founding. 
Æ 
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