Remove the Stain Act

The Colonel's Plea

Below you will find a letter from Colonel Samuel L. Russell, United States Army (ret.), asking Smith and Thornberry of the House Armed Services Committee to allow H.R. 3467 to die in committee. Colonel Russell is a retired Army officer with 30 years of active duty in uniform, a military historian, and a faculty member of the US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. He is also the great great grandson of Brig. Gen. Samuel M. Whitside, the commander who brought Chief Spotted Elk's band to the camp at Wounded Knee.

There is much more to learn of this specific military event in the pages below.

Here is an excerpt from Colonel Russell's letter to Rep. Adam Smith, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mac Thornberry, Ranking Member.

The House Armed Services Committee should allow the "Remove The Stain Act" to die in committee for three reasons which I explain in detail on the following pages.

  1. It all but ignores, and at times misrepresents,the well documented historical record that articulates the Army and the War Department's official position on Wounded Knee and the honors conferred.
  2. It presents only the perspective of the Lakota peoples, whose ancestors were the very forces that opposed US forces at Wounded Knee.
  3. It does what has never been done in our Nation's history, that is, consult the perspective of the opponent of our US soldiers in a particular conflict to determine if medals should be rescinded.