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Secretary Hegseth Presents Upgraded Valor Awards for the Abbey Gate Response, Aug. 27, 2026

August 27, 2026 · Department of War · 0:30:47

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth participated in a ceremony to upgrade the valor awards for United States Marines of Company G, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, who served at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, in a ceremony published by the Department of War on August 27, 2026 — the day after the fifth anniversary of the Abbey Gate attack during the Kabul evacuation. The department published the full ceremony on its official channel.

Why it matters

An awards upgrade is the department formally revising its own recognition record: the Marines’ actions at Abbey Gate are re-rated upward by the Secretary’s own department, five years on. Ceremonies of this kind are where the department’s account of the 2021 evacuation — and of the service members who held the gate — is stated in its most official form.

Sources: U.S. Department of War, “Secretary Hegseth Presents Medals: Abbey Gate Response,” August 27, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). No transcript is published with the upload; this page records the event as the department published it.