Gold Star families of the 13 United States service members killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul during the chaotic withdrawal of Afghanistan in August 2021 have used Memorial Day to call for the Biden administration to be held accountable and for their children’s legacies to be remembered.
The ISIS-K suicide attack killed 11 Marines, one Navy hospitalman, and one Army staff sergeant and wounded 45 more U.S. troops at the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26. Nearly 200 Afghans were also killed, and dozens more wounded in the blast as the United States led evacuation operations while the Taliban provided security outside the airport.Parents of three of the deceased Marines — Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, and Lance Cpl.
Rex added: “Dylan and the thirteen, they made the ultimate sacrifice in life. … They would be the image of why people have the freedoms they have because they were saving lives. ... They were actually making freedoms for other people — and they lost their lives doing that.” Hoover’s mother, Kelly Barnett, said: “You think about it every day, but it’s just hitting hard when you know that everybody else is out there trying to honor all the fallen.”
Chappell added that Memorial Day “became a day that I grieve the most, it seems because my son obviously died for his country” and that the day “now seems like a slap in the face because now I’m thinking: what did all these kids die for?” "Plain and simple, we were ignored," Vargas-Andrews said."Our expertise was disregarded. No one was held accountable for our safety."“I guess it does take one to stand up, and Tyler is that kid that stood up. He wants accountability and truth to come out just as much as the families.”
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