Pentagon upgrades awards of 3 Marines for “combat heroism” after Abbey Gate attack in Kabul

Five years after the attack at Abbey Gate in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. service members, the Pentagon upgraded the awards of three Marines for their actions in the wake of the blast. 

Service members were in the final days of the U.S. military’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, and were helping to process evacuees at Hamid Karzai International Airport, when a lone ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside one of the gates, Abbey Gate. The attack killed 13 Americans and 170 Afghan civilians. 

Retired Gunnery Sergeant Jonathan Eby, retired Lance Corporal Jordan Houston and retired Corporal Michael Gretzon were outside Abbey Gate when the bomb exploded. Despite the chaos, they provided care to the wounded and continued to process the crowd of evacuees. 

Eby and Houston were each presented the Bronze Star Medal with the device for valor, and Gretzon received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with the device for valor. The distinguishing valor device is awarded for specific acts of combat or valor against an enemy force that’s separate from an award given for general military service.

A defense official said the initial approved awards for Houston and Eby were Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals with combat devices, and Gretzon initially was approved to receive a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a combat device. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who presided over the ceremony and presented the upgrades, said their “fearless response represents the pinnacle of combat heroism. Simply put, valor.” 

According to the award citation for Eby, he continued screening evacuees in the wake of the blast, while his platoon commander and half of his platoon were either wounded or killed by the terrorist attack. It said he took command and rallied forces to reestablish security amid the chaos before “working feverishly to evacuate injured.” 

Houston was wounded, concussed, surrounded by gunfire and engulfed in tear gas, according to his citation, but he disregarded his own injuries to pull multiple wounded Marines to safety. His citation said his actions “doubtlessly saved the lives of his fellow Marines.”

Gretzon, according to his citation, continued to conduct crowd control from an exposed and vulnerable position to allow for the evacuation of those more critically wounded, which “doubtlessly saved the lives of his fellow Marines.” 

The blast killed 13 service members: Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, Sgt. Nicole Gee, Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Cpl. Daegan Page, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, Lance Cpl. David Espinoza, Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, Navy Hospital Corpsman Third Cl*** Maxton Soviak and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss.  

Following an investigation into the bombing, the chief investigator in a briefing told reporters the attack “was not preventable and the leaders on the ground followed the proper measures.”  

Hegseth has stood up an Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel led by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell to “conduct the most comprehensive military after-action review in modern history.” In an update on X Wednesday, Parnell said the panel’s work continues. 

Without offering specifics or holding a briefing to answer questions, he said, “I’m going to be honest with you about what that’s turning up. The deeper we look, the more there is to look at.” 

Hegseth during the award ceremony said the review would be completed by the end of the year. 

Congress in 2021 established an Afghan War Commission to review the whole war and present lessons learned and recommendations from the two-decade-long conflict, which ended in 2021 with the Taliban retaking power.