Home honoring 13 US service members killed in 2021 Abbey Gate bombing throughout Afghanistan withdrawal

Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. are internet hosting a Gold Medal ceremony for the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate in the course of the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

Johnson is posthumously presenting the Gold Medal, Congress’ highest honor, to the 13 fallen Individuals who had been killed in the course of the August 2021 ISIS-Ok 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 Workers 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 Workers Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss. 

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“Our nation owes a profound debt of gratitude to those service members and people right here right this moment who had been with them in Kabul. We additionally owe them one thing deeper, and that’s an apology to the households who’re right here. I do know lots of you might have but to listen to these phrases, so I’ll say them. We’re sorry,” Johnson stated in opening remarks. “The US authorities ought to have performed the whole lot to guard our troops. These fallen and wounded at Abbey gate deserved our greatest efforts, and the households who’ve been left to choose up the items proceed to deserve transparency and appreciation and recognition to you and the households who are usually not right here. I can promise you this you aren’t alone in shouldering the burdens from that day. And though we are able to by no means totally measure your loss, we are able to and we should memorialize the last word sacrifice that was paid.”

In his remarks, Jeffries stated with the congressional Gold Medal, “we reverently honor 13 patriots who’ve fallen in a battle zone with super valor.”

“The 13 heroes we’re honoring right here right this moment symbolize the very best of America. They had been belove little children, brothers and sisters, spouses and buddies who knew the risks of the mission however however answered the decision to serve, risking their very own security for that of our fellow Individuals, our allies and our Afghan companions. They defended freedom and democracy till their final breath. They held the gate,” Jeffries stated. “The Gold Medal we’re presenting right this moment is the best honor that may be conferred by the US Congress. However no honor can really repay the unbelievable sacrifice made by our fallen to the households right here.”

“This Congressional Gold Medal additionally represents our ironclad promise to you. We’ve got not forgotten your ache. We are going to always remember the last word sacrifice your family members have made, and our gratitude might be everlasting,” he stated. “Might the reminiscence of those youngsters of God, defenders of peace and defenders of liberty proceed to encourage us all to guard freedom and democracy right here at residence and all through the world, as they valiantly did.” 

A show displaying fallen American army members is displayed for a information convention by Home International Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.  (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)

Home Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., acknowledged that the 13 U.S. service members killed “sure up the injuries of a battle that had spanned their total lives.” 

“Immediately, 13 younger Individuals from each nook of our nation had been bonded eternally. Immediately, their heroic service grew to become an final and everlasting sacrifice,” McConnell stated, after studying private particulars about how every of the fallen are remembered by their households. “Immediately, the identify Abbey Gate carries a heavy toll of anger, of confusion and unspeakable grief. However we declare right here right this moment, with the best honor in Congress, and bestow that deep within the hearts of a grateful nation, these two phrases will eternally stand for bravery, the bravery of your little children and our heroes. ” 

Home International 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 in the course of the evacuation.  (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., identified how a number of the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate “had been even youthful than the battle in Afghanistan itself.”

“However to the residents desperately making an attempt to flee the Taliban’s rule via Abbey Gate on that fateful day, these 13 Individuals had been one thing extra heroes. Guardians, saviors that had been preventing for a trigger far larger than themselves, to ship freedom to those that in any other case would possibly by no means, by no means have identified it once more,” Schumer stated. “As we bear in mind the 13 fallen heroes, we likewise bear in mind each American who served in Afghanistan, together with the two,400 killed, the over 20,000 wounded, and the tons of of hundreds extra who wore the uniform.” 

“Tomorrow, we honor the anniversary of September eleventh, a day once we rededicate ourselves to that sacred promise. Always remember,” Schumer stated. “Effectively, that’s what this morning’s ceremony is all about. We are going to always remember the sacrifice of the fallen 13 service members. It now falls on us to all of us gathered right here below the dome of Girl Liberty to make sure the sacrifices of all our servicemen weren’t in useless.” 

The assault additionally left roughly 170 Afghans lifeless. Tuesday’s ceremony comes two days after Rep. Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the Home International 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 Warfare as a senator within the Nineteen Seventies. That, together with the Afghanistan withdrawal, demonstrates a “sample of callous overseas coverage positions and readiness to desert strategic companions,” based on the report.

The report additionally disputed Biden’s assertion that his arms 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 season 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, Trump joined the households of the slain 13 U.S. service members at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery. 

Biden and Vice President Harris had been absent, and although they launched statements that day, didn’t publicly identify the 13 fallen. 

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 Photos)

Harris later accused Trump of taking part in politics with the go to, however in a sequence of brief 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 vice chairman 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 apart” whereas ensuring that Trump’s staff was “made conscious of federal legal guidelines, Military rules and DoD insurance policies, which clearly prohibit political actions 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 verify again for updates.