I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3467 
To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek 
on December 29, 1890, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 25, 2019 
Mr. HECK (for himself, Mr. COOK, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. 
KILDEE, and Mr. LUJA´N) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wound-
ed Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Remove the Stain 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The Medal of Honor is the highest military 
award of the United States. 
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(2) Congress found that to earn the Medal of 
Honor ‘‘the deed of the person . . . must be so out-
standing that it clearly distinguishes his gallantry 
beyond the call of duty from lesser forms of brav-
ery’’. 
(3) The actions of Medal of Honor recipients 
inspire bravery in those currently serving in the 
Armed Forces and those who will come to serve in 
the future. 
(4) Those listed on the Medal of Honor Roll 
have come to exemplify the best traits of members 
of the Armed Forces, a long and proud lineage of 
those who went beyond the call of service to the 
United States of America. 
(5) To date the Medal of Honor has been 
awarded only 3,522 times, including only 145 times 
for the Korean War, 126 times in World War I, 23 
times during the Global War on Terror, and 20 
times for the massacre at Wounded Knee. 
(6) The Medal of Honor is awarded in the 
name of Congress. 
(7) As found in Senate Concurring Resolution 
153 of the 101st Congress, on December 29, 1890 
the 7th Cavalry of the United States engaged a trib-
al community ‘‘resulting in the tragic death and in-
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jury of approximately 350–375 Indian men, women, 
and children’’ led by Lakota Chief Spotted Elk of 
the Miniconjou band at ‘‘Cankpe’ Opi Wakpa’’ or 
‘‘Wounded Knee Creek’’. 
(8) This engagement became known as the 
‘‘Wounded Knee Massacre’’, and took place between 
unarmed Native Americans and soldiers, heavily 
armed with standard issue army rifles as well as 
four ‘‘Hotchkiss guns’’ with five 37 mm barrels ca-
pable of firing 43 rounds per minute. 
(9) Nearly two-thirds of the Native Americans 
killed during the Massacre were unarmed women 
and children who were participating in a ceremony 
to restore their traditional homelands prior to the 
arrival of European settlers. 
(10) Poor tactical emplacement of the soldiers 
meant that most of the casualties suffered by the 
United States troops were inflicted by friendly fire. 
(11) On January 1st, 1891, Major General Nel-
son A. Miles, Commander of the Division of Mis-
souri, telegraphed Major General John M. Schofield, 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army notifying him that 
‘‘[I]t is stated that the disposition of four hundred 
soldiers and four pieces of artillery was fatally defec-
tive and large number of soldiers were killed and 
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wounded by the fire from their own ranks and a very 
large number of women and children were killed in 
addition to the Indian men’’. 
(12) The United States awarded 20 Medals of 
Honor to soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry following 
their participation in the Wounded Knee Massacre. 
(13) In 2001, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, 
a member Tribe of the Great Sioux Nation, upon in-
formation provided by Lakota elders and by vet-
erans, passed Tribal Council Resolution No. 132–01, 
requesting that the Federal Government revoke the 
Medals of Honor from the soldiers of the United 
States Army, 7th Cavalry issued following the mas-
sacre of unarmed men, women, children, and elderly 
of the Great Sioux Nation on December 29, 1890, 
on Tribal Lands near Wounded Knee Creek. 
(14) The National Congress of American Indi-
ans requested in a 2007 Resolution that the Con-
gress ‘‘renounce the issuance of said medals, and/or 
to proclaim that the medals are null and void, given 
the atrocities committed upon unarmed men, women, 
children and elderly of the Great Sioux Nation’’. 
(15) General Miles contemporaneously stated 
that a ‘‘[w]holesale massacre occurred and I have 
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never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre 
than that at Wounded Knee’’. 
(16) Allowing any Medal of Honor, the United 
States highest and most prestigious military decora-
tion, to recognize a member of the Armed Forces for 
distinguished service for participating in the mas-
sacre of hundreds of unarmed Native Americans is 
a disservice to the integrity of the United States and 
its citizens, and impinges on the integrity of the 
award and those who have earned the Medal since. 
SEC. 3. RESCISSION OF MEDALS OF HONOR AWARDED FOR 
ACTS AT WOUNDED KNEE CREEK ON DECEM-
BER 29, 1890. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each Medal of Honor awarded for 
acts at Wounded Knee Creek, Lakota Pine Ridge Indian 
Reservation, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890, is re-
scinded. 
(b) MEDAL OF HONOR ROLL.—The Secretary con-
cerned shall remove the name of each individual awarded 
a Medal of Honor for acts described in subsection (a) from 
the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Medal of 
Honor Roll maintained under section 1134a of title 10, 
United States Code. 
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(c) RETURN OF MEDAL NOT REQUIRED.—No person 
may be required to return to the Federal Government a 
Medal of Honor rescinded under subsection (a). 
(d) NO DENIAL OF BENEFITS.—This Act shall not 
be construed to deny any individual any benefit from the 
Federal Government. 
Æ 
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