Native Heroes Erased

Native Heroes Erased

Native war heroes were swept up in President Donald Trump’s recent DEI directive at the Pentagon, erasing their legacies from its annals of military history. While some scrubbed photos and stories have since been restored, this series highlights the administration’s impacts on the families and descendants of Arizona icons Ira Hayes, Lori Piestewa and the Navajo Code Talkers.

Native war heroes were swept up in President Donald Trump’s recent DEI directive at the Pentagon, erasing their legacies from its annals of military history.

While some scrubbed photos and stories have since been restored, this three-part series from KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio highlights the administration’s impacts on the families and descendants of Arizona icons Ira Hayes, Lori Piestewa and the Navajo Code Talkers.

Peter MacDonald

Tribal Natural Resources

Casualties of DEI war: Navajo Code Talker calls Pentagon erasing his legacy ‘a serious mistake’

From Ira Hayes to Lori Piestewa, Arizona’s Indigenous war heroes were literally erased from the annals of military history last month as part of the Trump administration’s attack on DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — within the U.S. Department of Defense.

Wayne Allison, an Ira Hayes family rep., shows his relative's dog tag sitting inside a black velvet ring box.

Gabriel Pietrorazio/KJZZ

Tribal Natural Resources

Ira Hayes’ relatives are ‘still here, sharing his dog tag’ despite DOD deleting details about him

In the fallout, some of the Hayes descendants are stepping up. These relatives were reminded why they keep on sharing his story — even eight decades later — from where he grew up on the Gila River Indian Community.

Priscilla “Percy” Piestewa speaks while Brandon Piestewa watches during a Veterans Day sunset tribute at the Heard Museum on Nov. 11, 2023.

Gabriel Pietrorazio/KJZZ

Tribal Natural Resources

Lori Piestewa's family says legacy doesn’t ‘need to be plastered everywhere’ after Pentagon scrub

Her death in the opening days of the Iraq War in 2003 shook her home state of Arizona and led to the renaming of a freeway and mountain peak. More than two decades later, the 23-year-old Army specialist, a Hopi from Tuba City, was swept up in a recent executive order striking DEI references from the U.S. Department of Defense.

KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio holds the dog tag of Marine Corps Cpl. Ira Hamilton Hayes.

The Show

More on KJZZ's The Show: Ira Hayes' family still shares his story

Ira Hayes is arguably Arizona’s most iconic World War II hero, as one of six Marines who famously raised the American flag at Iwo Jima.