The Marines have elevated the medals and decorations for personnel who were at Abbey Gate, a key entry point at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, when it was bombed in a suicide attack in August 2021 during America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The attack by ISIS-K, the Islamic State’s regional affiliate, killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians. The Marines at Abbey Gate were from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
“After reviewing the original awards and determining that several had been inappropriately downgraded, these awards have been upgraded to levels that more accurately reflect the extreme risks these Marines knowingly accepted and the lives they saved under direct enemy fire,” said Sean Parnell, chairman of the Pentagon’s Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel.
The Marines at Abbey Gate were positioned in the direct blast zone with only minimal cover. They held their ground to keep the evacuation operations running even after it was clear that an attack was imminent, Pentagon officials said.
“Their actions that day were heroic [but] the original awards did not reflect that reality,” Mr. Parnell said. “Today’s upgrades correct that injustice.”
A Pentagon statement released late Tuesday did not specify which medals were being upgraded after the review. Mr. Parnell said the Trump administration is “committed to getting this right.”
“We will not allow valor performed at the point of friction to be diminished by bureaucratic or administrative shortcomings,” Mr. Parnell said.
