Congress formally rescinds medals for Wounded Knee Massacre

What it does

This bill rescinds 20 Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. 7th Cavalry soldiers for their participation in the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890, in which approximately 350–375 unarmed Lakota men, women, and children were killed. The bill removes the names of these soldiers from the official Medal of Honor Roll but does not require them to return the physical medals or forfeit any military benefits. The rescission is a formal congressional acknowledgment that the massacre was not an act deserving of the nation's highest military honor.

Why we flagged it

The bill's sole operative function is to rescind medals awarded for an act (the Wounded Knee Massacre) that Congress now recognizes as a massacre of unarmed civilians, not an act of military valor. This is a formal correction of the historical record and an acknowledgment of injustice.

What the text implies

• Rescission does not strip recipients of military pensions, healthcare, or other federal benefits—the bill explicitly preserves those, limiting the practical consequence to symbolic removal from the Medal of Honor Roll.
• The bill does not require return of the physical medals, meaning recipients or their heirs retain possession while the award is officially nullified—a compromise between accountability and avoiding forced restitution.

The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.

Who it affects

The bill corrects a historical injustice by removing official recognition from soldiers who participated in the massacre of unarmed civilians, restoring the integrity of the nation's highest military honor and acknowledging harm to Native Americans. No citizen loses rights, benefits, or protections; the bill is purely a rescission of an award deemed undeserved.