Lori Ann Piestewa ( ; December 14, 1979 – March 23, 2003) was a United States Army soldier killed during the Iraq War. A member of the Quartermaster Corps, she died in the same Iraqi attack in which fellow soldiers Shoshana Johnson and Piestewa's friend Jessica Lynch were injured. A Hopi, Piestewa was the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military and the first woman in the U.S. military killed in the Iraq War. Her father is Hopi Native American and her mother is Mexican-American. The couple first met in 1964 and married in November 1968.

The Piestewa family had a long military tradition; her paternal grandfather served in the U.S. Army in the European Theatre of World War II, and her father Terry Piestewa was drafted in the U.S. Army in September 1965 and served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War before he returned home in March 1967. The explosion sent her vehicle into the rear of a disabled tractor-trailer. According to Jessica Lynch's book—I'm a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story—Piestewa was wounded in the head, and performing delicate neurosurgery in an Iraqi civilian hospital was impossible in wartime conditions (due to limitations such as intermittent electric power).

The families of soldiers in the 507th heard almost immediately of the ambush and fatalities in the unit. The Piestewa family saw people in her 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-foot-high mesa just outside the town. On November 10, 2011, American Legion Post No. 80 on the Hopi Reservation was renamed the Lori Piestewa Post # 80. On November 30, 2011, the Directorate of Training Sustainment headquarters at Fort Benning, Georgia was named Piestewa Hall in her honor.

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, Piestewa'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.

In 2018, Piestewa became one of the inductees in the first induction ceremony held by the National Native American Hall of Fame.

Documentaries

There are documentaries in tribute to her about her sacrifices for the country and nation and her native people. Some of them are mentioned below:

  • Lori Piestewa, Native American Soldier and Hero | Documentary by History YouTube Channel
  • Remembering Lori Piestewa 10 years later | Documentary by ABC15 Arizona YouTube Channel

See also

  • Battle of Nasiriyah

References

Further reading

  • A Tribute to Lori Ann Piestewa, A Native American Hero and The first American woman killed in Iraq
  • The Lori Piestewa National Native American Games