24/04/2026
Good news!
The Marine Corps has issued award upgrades to seven Marines who guarded Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate in Kabul when a su***de bomber struck on Aug. 26, 2021, killing 13 service members and about 170 Afghans, defense officials announced on Wednesday.
“After reviewing the original awards and determining that several had been inappropriately downgraded, these awards have now been upgraded to levels that more accurately reflect the extreme risk these Marines knowingly accepted and the lives they saved under direct enemy fire,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
Stuart Scheller, the senior advisor to the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and was referenced in Parnell’s announcement, posted on social media later on Wednesday that several of the Marines now have awards with a “V” device, which denotes heroism in combat. A Marine Corps official confirmed the awards to Task & Purpose.
