Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. hosted a Gold Medal ceremony for the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate through the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Johnson posthumously offered the Gold Medal, Congress’ highest honor, to the 13 fallen Individuals who had been killed through the August 2021 ISIS-Okay suicide bombing on the Kabul Airport.
He opened the ceremony on Tuesday by naming the fallen and apologizing to their households.
The 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate had been: Marine Corps Employees Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Web page, Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, and Military Employees Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss.
“Our nation owes a profound debt of gratitude to these service members and those here today who were with them in Kabul. We also owe them something deeper, and that is an apology to the families who are here. I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them. We are sorry,” Johnson stated in opening remarks. “The United States government should have done everything to protect our troops. Those fallen and wounded at Abbey gate deserved our best efforts, and the families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency and appreciation and recognition to you and the families who are not here. I can promise you this you are not alone in shouldering the burdens from that day. And although we can never fully measure your loss, we can and we must memorialize the ultimate sacrifice that was paid.”
Coral Doolittle, the mom of Marine Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, closed the ceremony with a plea to Individuals on behalf of the households of the 13 fallen: “Say their names. Speak their names and tell their stories.”
“We are honored to stand here today, receiving this recognition on behalf of the 13 who gave their lives. As their parents, our grief never truly ends,” she stated. “It changes, it transforms, but it remains with us always. A big part of us died with our children on Aug. 26, 2021. We want everybody to know the ceremonies like this provide a small but meaningful breath of relief in our ongoing journey of grief, reminding us that we raised the best and brightest for this country. We deeply appreciate the efforts of Congress and the Speaker of the House for making this moment possible.”
In his remarks, Jeffries stated with the congressional Gold Medal, “we reverently honor 13 patriots who have fallen in a war zone with tremendous valor.”
Gold Medals sit on show forward of a ceremony honoring the 13 American service members who died within the suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Afghanistan in U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Sept. 10, 2024 in Washington. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Pictures)
“The 13 heroes we are honoring here today represent the best of America. They were beloved sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, spouses and friends who knew the dangers of the mission but nevertheless answered the call to serve, risking their own safety for that of our fellow Americans, our allies and our Afghan partners. They defended freedom and democracy until their last breath. They held the gate,” Jeffries stated. “The Gold Medal we are presenting today is the highest honor that can be conferred by the United States Congress. But no honor can truly repay the incredible sacrifice made by our fallen to the families here.”
“This Congressional Gold Medal also represents our ironclad promise to you. We have not forgotten your pain. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice your loved ones have made, and our gratitude will be eternal,” he stated. “May the memory of these children of God, defenders of peace and defenders of liberty continue to inspire us all to protect freedom and democracy here at home and throughout the world, as they valiantly did.”
Home Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., acknowledged that the 13 U.S. service members killed “bound up the wounds of a war that had spanned their entire lives.”
“In an instant, 13 young Americans from every corner of our country were bonded forever. In an instant, their heroic service became an ultimate and eternal sacrifice,” McConnell stated, after studying private particulars about how every of the fallen are remembered by their households. “Today, the name Abbey Gate carries a heavy toll of anger, of confusion and unspeakable grief. But we declare here today, with the highest honor in Congress, and bestow that deep in the hearts of a grateful nation, those two words will forever stand for bravery, the bravery of your sons and daughters and our heroes. ”
A show displaying fallen American army members is displayed for a information convention by Home Overseas Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., identified how a few of the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate “were even younger than the war in Afghanistan itself.”
“But to the citizens desperately trying to escape the Taliban’s rule through Abbey Gate on that fateful day, these 13 Americans were something more heroes. Guardians, saviors that were fighting for a cause far bigger than themselves, to deliver freedom to those who otherwise might never, never have known it again,” Schumer stated. “As we remember the 13 fallen heroes, we likewise remember every American who served in Afghanistan, including the 2,400 killed, the over 20,000 wounded, and the hundreds of thousands more who wore the uniform.”
“Tomorrow, we honor the anniversary of September 11th, a day when we rededicate ourselves to that sacred promise. Never forget,” Schumer stated. “Well, that is what this morning’s ceremony is all about. We will never forget the sacrifice of the fallen 13 service members. It now falls on us to all of us gathered here under the dome of Lady Liberty to ensure the sacrifices of all our servicemen were not in vain.”
Home Overseas Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, speaks about his panel’s Afghanistan report on the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He’s joined by Republican lawmakers and households of the army members who had been killed through the evacuation. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)
The assault additionally left roughly 170 Afghans lifeless. Tuesday’s ceremony comes two days after Rep. Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the Home Overseas Affairs Committee, launched a scathing 350-page report that took a fine-toothed comb to the army’s 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and highlighted areas of significant mismanagement.
The Republican-led report opens by harkening again to President Biden’s urgency to withdraw from the Vietnam Conflict as a senator within the Nineteen Seventies. That, together with the Afghanistan withdrawal, demonstrates a “pattern of callous foreign policy positions and readiness to abandon strategic partners,” based on the report.
The report additionally disputed Biden’s assertion that his palms had been tied to the Doha settlement former President Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer time of 2021, and it revealed how state officers had no plan for getting Individuals and allies out whereas there have been nonetheless troops there to guard them.
On the three-year anniversary of the assault final month, Trump joined the households of the slain 13 U.S. service members at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery.
Biden and Vice President Harris had been absent. Although they launched written statements itemizing the names of the 13 fallen that day, neither Biden nor Harris spoke publicly on the anniversary.
On the Republican Nationwide Conference in July, the Gold Star households took to the stage blasting President Biden for by no means saying the names of these 13 Individuals killed publicly out loud.
Donald Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister Sgt. Nicole Gee died in Abbey Gate Bombing, at a wreath laying ceremony on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery on Aug. 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Pictures)
Harris later accused Trump of enjoying politics with the go to to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, however in a collection of quick movies, eight households stated they’d invited Trump, and bitterly blasted the Biden-Harris administration over the pullout that left 13 U.S. service members lifeless three years in the past.
The vp had criticized Trump’s staff for taking pictures and movies at a wreath-laying ceremony occasion. The Military stated that an Arlington Nationwide Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” whereas ensuring that Trump’s staff was “made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
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The Gold Star households who misplaced family members within the botched Afghanistan withdrawal blasted Harris over her assault on Trump’s go to paying respect to the fallen.
Fox Information’ Morgan Phillips, Nicholas Kalman and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report. This can be a creating story. Please examine again for updates.
