13 Facts About Lori Piestewa

Lori Ann Piestewa was a United States Army soldier killed during the Iraq War.

Lori Piestewa was born in Tuba City, Arizona, to Terry Lori Piestewa and Priscilla "Percy" Baca.

Lori Piestewa's father is Hopi Native American and her mother is Mexican-American.

The Lori Piestewa family had a long military tradition; her paternal grandfather served in the US Army in the European Theatre of World War II, and her father Terry Lori Piestewa was drafted in the US Army in September 1965 and served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War before he returned home in March 1967.

The Lori Piestewa family resided in Tuba City, a town located on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Coconino County.

Lori Piestewa was a member of the US Army's 507th Maintenance Company, a support unit of maintenance and repair personnel.

Lori Piestewa's 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 got lost and ran into an ambush in Nasiriyah on March 23,2003.

The Lori 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.

Lori Piestewa was awarded the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal.

Lynch has repeatedly stated that Lori Piestewa was the true heroine of the ambush and named her daughter Dakota Ann in honor of her fallen comrade.

Lori Piestewa has been memorialized with a plaque and ceremony at Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla, California.

Lori Piestewa's death led to a rare joint prayer gathering between members of the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have had a centuries-old rivalry.

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