Congress on Tuesday honored the 13 American service members killed in the 2021 terror attack outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from the two-decade war there.

During a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, an Army staff sergeant, Navy Hospital corpsman and 11 Marines were posthumously awarded Congressional Gold Medals, the highest honor Congress can bestow.

“Their names are etched into our hearts and now into the history of our nation,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. “ … Our nation owes a profound debt of gratitude to these service members and those here today who were with them in Kabul.”

In August 2021, the U.S. scrambled to evacuate military personnel, citizens and Afghan allies after the Afghan government fell to the Taliban. On Aug. 26, a suicide bombing at one of the gates at Hamid Karzai International Airport, called Abbey Gate, killed the service members as well as 170 Afghan civilians.

The service members were:

• Marine Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas
• Marine Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California
• Marine Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City
• Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee
• Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California
• Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming
• Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California
• Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California
• Marine Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska
• Marine Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts
• Marine Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana
• Marine Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri
• Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio

“The 13 heroes we are honoring here today represent the best of America,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “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 service, risking their own safety for that of our fellow Americans, our allies and our Afghan partners.”

Said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.: “They served their country. They helped people in desperate need. They lived out childhood dreams. They bound up the wounds of a war that had spanned their entire lives. And 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.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the fallen service members “brave souls who gave their last full measure of devotion in the attack.”

“Nothing we can do today can bring them back,” he said. “But through this award, we swear their memories will live forever.”

Coral Doolittle, the mother of Humberto Sanchez, said the love that her son and the others killed had for the country “was greater than the threats they faced from the enemy.”

“They worked tirelessly to save as many lives as possible, and while their time was cut short, they gave everything they had,” she said, fighting back tears. “ … They saw the desperate faces of women and children who were trying to escape from that horrific place, and they found the strength to keep going.”

The ceremony came two days after House Republicans issued a scathing report on their investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal that blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for poor planning and for “severely limited” consultation with military and civilian leaders on the ground in Afghanistan.

Johnson apologized Tuesday to the families of those who were killed.

“I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them: We are sorry,” he said. “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.”

House Democrats and the White House have criticized the report for being partisan. They say the withdrawal deal former President Donald Trump reached with the Taliban set the stage for the collapse of the Afghan government and the violence at the Kabul Airport.

“Every discussion about what happened in Afghanistan has to start right there. Sadly, the report does not dwell on it,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

In a statement, Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said their GOP colleagues “cherry-picked witness testimony to exclude anything unhelpful to a predetermined, partisan narrative about the Afghanistan withdrawal.”

Since Vice President Kamala Harris has entered the presidential race, Republicans have sought to tie her to the withdrawal. While Harris did say she was the last one in the room with Biden before he cemented his plans for the withdrawal, it’s unclear how much input or influence she had in the evacuation plans. The Washington Post reported, citing officials who attended meetings that included her, that Harris raised important questions about the withdrawal but did not push for any alternative policy. 

Last month, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to pay his respects to service members buried there on the third anniversary of their deaths. The appearance, however, was overshadowed by an altercation between cemetery staff and Trump campaign officials after they were told they could not take photos there.