Valor awards upgraded for Marines who defended Abbey Gate during Afghanistan withdrawal

The Marine Corps has upgraded the valor awards given to Marines who guarded Abbey Gate at the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021 — the day a suicide bomber struck the gate and killed 13 service members and 170 Afghans, the Pentagon said 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,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

Parnell said the decision — recommended by the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — is meant to correct the original awards which “did not reflect” the danger the location posed and the service members’ heroic actions.  

An unspecified number of Marines in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment will receive the award upgrades, but the statement did not note what the new awards are.........

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