“My sister is a warrior because she did the right thing, the honorable thing: going to Iraq when she didn’t have to, because she felt it was the ethical and moral thing to do. That’s what being a warrior is about: doing what’s right, even when it’s difficult and means sacrifice.” -Wayland Piestewa, Specialist Lori Piestewa’s oldest brother
Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, U.S. Army, born in Tuba City, Arizona, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 2001, following in the footsteps of her father, who had served in the Army during the Vietnam War, and her grandfather, who had served in the Army during WWII.
Piestewa was assigned to the 507th Maintenance Company in Fort Bliss, Texas. In January of 2003 the 507th was told they would be deployed to Iraq. Piestewa petitioned to be deployed with her unit, despite being initially designated to stay behind due to a shoulder injury.
On March 23, 2003, Piestewa and her company were traveling in convoy through the desert in southern Iraq, when they were ambushed in Nasiriyah. Piestewa drove at high-speed, evading enemy fire, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her Humvee. Piestewa and the rest of the surviving convoy were taken prisoner. While being held prisoner in a hospital in Nasiriyah, Piestewa died from injuries sustained in the ambush. She was 23 years old and a single mother of two.
A member of the Hopi tribe, 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.
Before leaving for Iraq, Piestewa remarked to a friend “I’m not trying to be a hero,” but she will always be remembered as one. Piestewa was awarded the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal. The U.S. Army posthumously promoted her from private first class to specialist. In 2008, Arizona’s Piestewa Peak was named in her honor.
Sources:
National Museum of the United States Army
20 Years Later: Remembering and Honoring US Army Specialist Lori Piestewa
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