Lori Ann Piestewa, U.S. Army

Hero Card 4, Card Pack 1
Photo credit: U.S. Army

Hometown: Tuba City, AZ
Branch: U.S. Army 
Unit: 507th Maintenance Company 
Military Honors: Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal
Date of Sacrifice: March 23, 2003 - KIA in Iraq 
Age: 23
Conflict: Iraq War, 2003-2011 

A member of the Hopi Nation, Piestewa was the first Native American woman to die in combat on foreign soil while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Piestewa’s father served in the Vietnam War, and her grandfather in World War II.

She gained national fame as one of the first women in combat, and as a patriot who enlisted in the Army to serve her country despite being a single mother of a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. As Spc. Piestewa was half Mexican, many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans view her as their own hero.

Piestewa’s 507th Maintenance Company served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was a support unit designated to transporting water, hauling supplies and providing non-combative help to combat units.

As part of a procession with more than 600 vehicles, her unit left Kuwait moving overland in support of the 3rd Infantry Division. The procession was part of the “Shock and Awe” military strategy to inflict a fast, overwhelming first strike, demoralizing the enemy.

Many of the maintenance vehicles fell behind the lighter combat fleet that raced ahead toward Baghdad. Some became bogged down in the sand and were left further and further behind. With the wind-blown sand making it impossible to see the fleet’s tail lights, Piestewa’s Humvee with six soldiers inside became lost and was forced to camp in the desert near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah for the night.

The next day they drove into the city and were ambushed by Iraqis on rooftops. Trying to escape, their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which struck the Humvee on the right side and sent it careening into the back of an eighteen-wheel truck. Three of the soldiers were killed instantly. Piestawa, taken to a hospital in the city, died from her wounds shortly thereafter. 

Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor commented, “She will be remembered as a daughter, as a proud mother of two, as a good friend able to comfort others in distress.”

On April 10, 2008, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to officially change the name of the prominent Phoenix (AZ) mountain Squaw Peak to “Piestewa Peak” in Lori’s honor.