Lori Piestewa

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Lori Piestewa
December 14, 1979(1979-12-14) – March 23, 2003 (aged 23)

Nickname Kocha-Hon-Mana ( - Hopi name)
Place of birth Tuba City, Arizona
Place of death Southern Iraq
Allegiance Flag of the United States - United States of America
Service/branch United States Army 507th Maintenance Company
Years of service 2001- 2003[1]
Rank Army Spc. - She was promoted posthumously[2]
Battles/wars 2003 invasion of Iraq
Awards Purple Heart
Prisoner of War Medal

SPC Lori Ann Piestewa (December 14, 1979–March 23, 2003) was a U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps soldier killed during the same Iraqi Army attack in which her friend Jessica Lynch was injured. A member of the Hopi tribe, Piestewa was the first woman in the U.S. armed forces killed in the 2003 Iraq war and is the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving with the U.S. military.

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[edit] Piestewa's youth

Piestewa was born and raised in Tuba City, Arizona, a town with more than a 50% unemployment rate, the daughter of Terry Piestewa and Priscilla "Percy" Baca Piestewa.[3][4][5] Lori Piestewa's father is Hopi and her mother is of Mexican ancestry.[6] photo They met in 1964 and married in November 1968.[7]

Her family had a long military tradition, with both Piestewa's father and grandfather having served in the U.S. Army. (Her father was drafted and served in Vietnam in 1965, and returned home in March 1967.)[8] Neighbors described her as, while generally supportive of the army, having joined primarily to provide a secure income for her and her two children, Brandon and Carla Whiterock.

As a child, she was given the Hopi name Köcha-Hon-Mana (also spelled Qotsa-hon-mana, meaning White Bear Girl).[6] Her surname, Piestewa, is derived from a Hopi language root meaning "water pooled on the desert by a hard rain"; thus, Piestewa translates loosely as "the people who live by the water."

[edit] Ambush in Nasiriyah, Iraq

Piestewa was a member of the army's 507th Army Maintenance Company, a support unit of clerks, cooks, and repair personnel. Her company was traveling in a convoy through the desert and was supposed to bypass Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, during the opening days of the war; but the convoy got lost and ran into an ambush in Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003.

As Piestewa came under what an Army investigation described as "a torrent of fire," she drove at a high rate of speed, successfully evading the enemy fire until an RPG hit the front-left wheel-well of her Humvee.[9] The force of the explosion sent her vehicle into the rear of a disabled tractor-trailer.[10] Three other soldiers in the Humvee died in the crash. Lynch attempted to fire her M16, but it jammed. Piestewa and Jessica Lynch both survived but were wounded. They were taken prisoner, with Piestewa dying soon after of her wounds. A video of some of the American prisoners of war, including Piestewa (filmed shortly before she died in an Iraqi hospital), was later shown around the world on Al Jazeera television.[11] According to Jessica Lynch's book—I'm a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story—Piestewa was wounded in the head, and it was impossible to perform delicate neurosurgery in an Iraqi civilian hospital in wartime conditions (such as intermittant electric power): in a U.S. military hospital, both reliable power and neurosurgeons were available around the clock, and she might well have survived.

The families of soldiers in the 507th heard almost right away of the ambush and fatalities in the unit. The Piestewa family saw people in Lori's unit being interviewed by Iraqi TV, and for more than a week families of the two women waited for news. All around Tuba City signs were hung out telling people: "Put your porch light on, show Lori the way home." They used white stone to spell her name on a 200-ft mesa just outside the town.[12]

[edit] Honoring Piestewa

Piestewa was awarded the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal. The army posthumously promoted her from Private First Class to Specialist.

Jessica Lynch has repeatedly said that Piestewa is the true hero of the ambush and named her daughter Dakota Ann in honor of her fallen comrade. In addition, many entities have honored her memory with memorials. Arizona's state government renamed Squaw Peak in the Phoenix Mountains near Phoenix as Piestewa Peak and this was codified by the US Board on Geographic Names on April 10, 2008;[2] the freeway that passes near this mountain was also re-named in her honor. In addition, Senator Tom Daschle honored her, as did Indian Nations across America. Since her death, the Grand Canyon Games organizers have held an annual Lori Piestewa National Native American Games, which brings participants from across the country. A plaque bearing her name is also located at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Her death led to a rare joint prayer gathering between members of the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have had a centuries-old rivalry.

In May 2005, Lori's parents and children had a brand-new home built by Ty Pennington and his crew on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition accompanied by Jessica Lynch. They also built a new veterans' center on the Navajo reservation.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lori Piestewa at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2007-07-31}}
  2. ^ a b Rudi Williams (ARLINGTON, Va., May 27, 2003). Army Spc. Lori Piestewa (HTML). American Forces Press Service. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  3. ^ American Indian Heritage Month
  4. ^ Special Report | Lori Piestewa
  5. ^ Museum with meaning: Reflections on NMAI : ICT [2004/09/28]
  6. ^ a b OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON (May 27, 2004). The Forgotten Soldier (HTML). Rolling Stone Magazine ALT mirror article. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  7. ^ Witness Testimony - - House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
  8. ^ Witness Testimony - - House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
  9. ^ Attack on the 507th Maintenance Company
  10. ^ Attack on the 507th Maintenance Company
  11. ^ Lucas, Dean (2007). Famous Pictures Magazine - Jessica Lynch (HTML). Famous Pictures Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
  12. ^ Gary Younge (Thursday April 10, 2003). What about Private Lori? (HTML). The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.

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