The Navy will award more than three dozen military and civilian personnel for their bravery and selflessness during a deadly attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola by a Royal Saudi Air Force lieutenant late last year, the sea service announced Monday.
A ceremony is slated to start 10 a.m. March 16 at the National Naval Aviation Museum at the Pensacola base, Cmdr. James Stockman, a spokesperson for Naval Education and Training Command said in an email.
Navy Installations Commander Vice Adm. Mary Jackson and Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell, Jr. will present the awards to 34 civilian and military personnel.
The awards include the Purple Heart, Secretary of Defense Medal for Valor, Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom, Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, Navy and Marine Corps Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Stockman said.
Stockman said that the names of those being honored were not available Monday because the awards are being finalized, but they will honor personnel from NAS Pensacola, the Naval Aviation Schools Command, the Marine Aviation Training Support Groups 21 and 23 and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
The Navy will stream the ceremony live on Facebook.
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Three sailors killed in the attack will receive awards posthumously during separate ceremonies on a later date, Stockman said.
Airman Mohammed S. Haitham and Airman Apprentice Cameron S. Walters were posthumously advanced to aircrewman mechanical third class by the Navy in December and Ensign Joshua K. Watson was named an aviator.
Eight others were wounded in an attack U.S. Attorney General William Barr later called an “act of terrorism.”
A sheriff’s deputy killed the gunman, Royal Saudi Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, in a shootout at the installation.
Courtney Mabeus-Brown is the senior reporter at Air Force Times. She is an award-winning journalist who previously covered the military for Navy Times and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., where she first set foot on an aircraft carrier. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and more.
