More than 200 Airmen will receive medals for their roles in Operation Allies Refuge, the evacuation of Afghanistan in summer 2021 as the U.S. completed its withdrawal. Eight Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Star Medals, 229 Air Medals, and 98 Meritorious Service Medals will be presented to Airmen on Nov. 9 at the 2023 Airlift Tanker Association Convention in Grapevine, Texas.
“It is with great humility, gratitude and honor that I have the opportunity to recognize the actions of these mobility heroes,” said Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, in a statement. “This recognition is long overdue but I hope everyone involved in this incredible operation knows our deepest appreciation for their sacrifice while saving more than 124,000 American and Afghan lives.”
The medals are in addition to the 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 12 Bronze Stars already awarded about a year ago, along with the Gallant Unit Citation awarded to the 621st Contingency Response Group following OAR. The entire operation lasted 17 days, including round-the-clock operations involving some 800 military and civilian aircraft from more than 30 nations, including about half the Air Force’s C-17 transport jets and more than 500 U.S. Air Force aircrews, along with hundreds of support Airmen on the ground. It was the largest non-combatant evacuation operation in U.S. Air Force history.
Airmen delivered three babies during the airlift operation, all aboard C-17s, and created medical augmentation teams to care for the hundreds of evacuees crammed onto each flight. Both Airmen and aircraft were pushed to their operational limits. Aeromedical evacuation teams also transported 35 patients after a suicide bombing killed 11 Marines, a soldier, a sailor, and at least 170 Afghan civilians at Kabul’s airport on Aug 26, 2021.
“I’ve flown the C-17 for 15 years, and that was not only the most important and significant mission I ever flew, it was also the most challenging,” Lt. Col. Austin Street told Air & Space Forces Magazine last year about evacuating patients wounded by the attack. “That’s why I’m so proud of my crew for pushing through and overcoming the most challenging conditions I ever witnessed.”
These most recent medals recognizes maintainers, loadmasters, pilots, aeromedical evacuation specialists, and Ravens, the security forces Airmen trained to keep transport planes and jets secure while on the ground in dangerous areas. The medals were approved by the sixth awards board to review the records of Airmen involved in OAR. Another board is scheduled next week.
“We continue to reveal incredible actions taken to carry out this mission and it is our duty to recognize each and every one of them,” said Minihan. “Airmen proved, once again, that they can make the impossible, possible. But, it came with great personal sacrifice and risk.”