FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Lori Piestewa ~ 17 April 2017

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[Kathy in Alaska]

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!

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~ Hall of Heroes ~
Lori Piestewa

Info from here.

           

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 fellow soldiers Shoshana Johnson and Jessica Lynch sustained injuries. A member of the Hopi tribe, Piestewa was the first woman in the U.S. armed forces killed in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and is the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving with the U.S. military in world history.

Piestewa was born in Tuba City, Arizona, to Terry Piestewa and Priscilla "Percy" Baca. Her father is a full-blooded Hopi Native American, and her mother is a 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 one tour of duty in the Vietnam War before he returned home in March 1967.

The Piestewa family resided in a trailer park in Tuba City, a town located on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Coconino County.[9] As a child, she was given the Hopi name Köcha-Hon-Mana (also spelled Qotsa-hon-mana, meaning White Bear Girl).  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."

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 meant to bypass Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, during the opening days of the war; but the convoy became 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 speed, successfully evading the enemy fire until an RPG hit the front-left wheel-well of her Humvee. The force of the explosion sent her vehicle into the rear of a disabled tractor-trailer. Three other soldiers in the Humvee died in the crash. Lynch attempted to fire her M16, but it jammed. Piestewa, Johnson and Lynch all survived but were wounded. They were taken prisoner along with four others, 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. 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 intermittent electric power). In a U.S. military hospital with reliable power and neurosurgeons available around the clock, she might 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

 

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; 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 and Fort Bliss, Texas. She has also been memorialized with a plaque and ceremony at Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla, California.

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.

Thanks, Beachn4Fun, for the reminder about this hero!

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Did you have a nice Easter?

Ready to take on the new week?

[Kathy in Alaska]

TAPS

RIP

SSG MARK R. DE ALENCAR, USA
7th Special Forces Group (Airborne)

Amazing Grace

[luvie]

Thanks, galz, for this story of a true American hero...with no labels attached!

[luvie]

....till they all come home....

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Luv - a Blessed and Happy Easter to you and yours!

*HUGS*

They must be found and brought home!

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[luvie]

Hi, Conor! (((hugs)))

Hope your Easter Sunday was a blessing to you and your family!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Sand...((HUGS))...a Native American hero from your state.

Did you have family for Easter?

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,
THANK YOU
for your service!

[SandRat]

REMEMBER, Tomorrow, TAXES are due.

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

I hope you had a nice quiet day.
Nice to see almost all the snow is gone up there. And the streets are dry!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Mac, for the Missing Man Setting as we remember those who have given their all that we may gather safe and secure.

[radu]

Howdy, Feathers. *Hugz*

Sounds like you had a nice day with family. And warm weather, even if there was a little rain. The peepers are certainly happy about that tonight, singing up a storm.

Probably not your internet giving you problems getting here tonight. FR’s draaaaaaaaaagging big time

[radu]

Howdy, Sand.

There’s another day’s reprieve on taxes this year ..... have until Tuesday to get them in. :-)

[radu]

Howdy, PRO!

Did you have a nice day with your son? Weather nice enough y’all could relax outside for a change?

[radu]

Howdy do, Conor. *HUGZ*

It sounds like you and Mrs. MacNessa had a very nice Easter weekend.

Any new pretties showing off in your gardens?

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Radu!

*HUGS*

A Blessed and Happy Easter to you and yours!

The tulips and daffodils are finished here. The azaleas I bought last Fall are in full bloom now in the Front Garden. In the Back Garden, bleeding hearts are ascendant, and my hostas are leafing out splendidly.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[radu]

Howdy, LUV.

How was your day? Did you get any rain this evening?

[mountainlion]

Sandi Patti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpIC0d_3bWo

He is risen and he will come back soon.

[luvie]

Hi! It was a very good day! And we DID get some rain! Just not sure how much. Hubby can’t go look at the rain gauge because then I’d have kitties sleeping in here all night. LOL!

I hope you had a good day also! Was it pretty there?

[PROCON]

Hi radu!

I was able to go and watch he and the church choir sing this morning but he was busy otherwise.

He's in the last week of his college term before summer break so we'll see more of one another soon.

How wuz your and kittehs Easter?