Posted on 11/28/2010 5:13:56 PM PST by Kathy in Alaska
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." |
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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 bookI'm a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch StoryPiestewa 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
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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! |
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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! |
Next MOnday I will "see" you from work. UGH!
But, I do know one thing. I'm rooting for OU to beat Nebraska this Saturday.
Good afternoon, Arrowhead...((HUGS))...hope you had a delicious turkey day.
Yes, we had a feast at our house. (((HUGS))) to you to.
I did most of the cooking again, and everyone was impressed.
Hey Kathy did you hear i think of Capt Phil Harris son might be Pill head
http://www.tmz.com/2010/11/29/deadliest-catch-drug-investigation-cornelia-marie-police-raid-captain/
Thank you.
Wise man....OU it is on Saturday.
Congratulations on your cooking skills. Deserved impressions!
WOW Hardline Atollayh of Iran has cancer
via Winileaks report
Thanks, unique, for the woohoo!!
Arrowhead.....#200!!
First is this section:
Not long, our stout old Chieftain knew,
Such odds his strength could bide.
Twas in that hour his stern command
Called to a martyrs grave
The flower of his beloved land,
General Zachary Taylor, who was raised in Louisville, Kentucky, was the American commander at Buena Vista. During the battle, he was forced to order the 2nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment to make a spoiling attack against a vastly superior Mexican force in order to buy himself enough time to rally the remainder of his forces. The Kentuckians succeeded in their attack but suffered heavily for it.
The second point is here:
Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground
The word Kentucky is Native American for Dark and Bloody Ground, because of the numerous battles fought here between Northern Indians from the Midwest and Great Lakes area and Southern Indians from the Cumberland and Tennessee River Valley areas.
But the key point is that the poem was first published in a Frankfort newspaper in 1850 but Lopez didn't invade Cuba until August 1851.
Thanks. I learned a lot from my mom & dad when I was a kid.
That kid better get his act together or he’s gonna be sitting in a jail cell for a bit.
Thanks....you win with proof.
Road Trip: Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas
Yeah I know
I been watching Deadliest Catch for last few years did Jake Harris try steal his father RX pills season before Capt Phil Harris pass on
I THINK SO
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