Pentagon Upgrades Valor Awards for 3 Marines Who Withstood Attack During Afghanistan Withdrawal

ARLINGTON, Va.—Three U.S. Marines received upgraded valor awards on Aug. 26, in recognition of their actions after a bomb blast at the security checkpoint they were manning at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan exactly five years before.

In a ceremony in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes on the fifth anniversary of the attack, Marine Staff Sgt. Jonathan Eby and Lance Cpl. Jordan Houston received Bronze Stars with “V” devices for valor.

Cpl. Michael Gretzon received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a “V” device. 

Eby, Houston, and Gretzon were among those assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, during the U.S. military withdrawal and civilian evacuation of Afghanistan through August 2021.

They were manning their stations at the Abbey Gate entrance to the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021, when a suicide bomber set off an explosive among the crowds of people seeking to leave the country through the airport.

Thirteen U.S. troops and about 170 civilians were killed in the blast. Dozens more were injured.

Adding to the chaos for all the Marines involved was the fact that shrapnel from the blast had punctured several tear gas canisters, releasing irritating chemical smoke throughout the crowd.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric M. Smith said Houston was standing just 10 meters from the blast during the Abbey Gate attack. The blast knocked Houston unconscious.

“He awoke to discover shrapnel wounds in his hip, but he maintained his exposed position to cover his fellow Marines,” Smith said.

Houston was credited with continuing to provide life-saving assistance to the wounded even as he concealed his own injuries.

“Later that night, he quietly removed the shrapnel himself before receiving treatment from medical personnel, digging the shrapnel out of his own body,” Smith said of Houston’s actions that day.

Gretzon was also sustained shrapnel wounds to his arms in the blast, but was credited with applying a tourniquet to his own injured limb and continuing to man his post.

“Once medical personnel bandaged his arm, he immediately returned to his squad because they needed help, and he refused to leave until his platoon sergeant personally ordered him to the casualty collection point, an order which he grudgingly accepted,” Smith said of Gretzon’s actions.

Eby was credited with taking charge of the Marines in his platoon in the confusing moments following the suicide blast, balancing efforts to evacuate the wounded and keep his remaining forces to reestablish a security posture around the checkpoint.

“He continued to expose himself to scan for threats and reestablish a security perimeter,” Smith said of Eby’s actions. “With security already set, he began providing life-saving aid to other Marines, and he identified his platoon commander among the injured.”

The award upgrades for the three Marines are the result of an ongoing Pentagon review of the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

“There is no finer example of that raw, unyielding courage than what occurred when these three men and others they saved were pushed to the absolute limit,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.

“When the threat materialized, these three Marines did not flinch.”

In April, the panel recommended award upgrades for seven other Marines who contended with the aftermath of that deadly blast.

Hegseth said the Pentagon’s Afghanistan review panel expects to submit a full report on the withdrawal and evacuation mission by the end of 2026.