Airmen, Soldier Shot in DC Attack to Receive the Purple Heart

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, one of two National Guard members shot in a Washington, D.C., attack, will soon be awarded the Purple Heart.

Hegseth announced his plan to award the honor to Wolfe and Army Spec. Sarah Beckstrom while speaking to Guard members during a reenlistment ceremony at the Washington Monument on Feb. 6.

Wolfe and Beckstrom were patrolling the streets near the White House the day before Thanksgiving when Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, approached them and opened fire at close range. Both Guard members were airlifted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, but 20-year-old Beckstrom died of her wounds Nov. 27.

Wolfe, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, is currently recovering in an undisclosed inpatient rehabilitation facility, according to a West Virginia National Guard spokesperson.

“A terrible thing happened a number of months ago,” Hegseth said, according to a video clip on X.  The Pentagon chief said Wolfe and Beckstrom are “both soon to be Purple Heart recipients because they were attacked by a radical.”

The Purple Heart, which traces its roots to the Revolutionary War, is awarded to service members who are killed or injured in action under specific conditions that have been periodically adjusted, according to an Air Force fact sheet on the Purple Heart.

The fact sheet lists 12 conditions under which a person may be deemed eligible for a Purple Heart. Pentagon and Air Force officials could not immediately provide details on which criteria is being applied for Wolfe and Beckstrom, but those injured or killed during a foreign terrorist attack are considered eligible, so long as “the individual or entity [committing the attack] was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack, and the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization.”

There have been other instances of service members receiving the Purple Heart for being attacked while serving in the U.S. In late 2020, the Naval Aviation School at U.S. Naval Air Station Pensacola awarded Purple Hearts to three Sailors who were killed in 2019 when a military officer from Saudi Arabia opened fire on one the school’s classrooms. The Department of Justice and FBI ruled that the attack as an act of terrorism after the shooter was found to have been inspired by radical Islamic ideology.

In 2015, the Army awarded Purple Hearts to 10 Soldiers killed and another 26 Soldiers who were wounded when Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan went on a shooting rampage on Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. In the year leading up to the attack, Hasan had been in contact via email with al Qaida and claimed that he had targeted U.S. soldiers to preemptively protect Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

It’s still unclear when Wolfe and members of Beckstrom’s family will receive the decoration. The distinctive heart-shaped medal, established in 1932, features a gold-colored profile of General George Washington in the center of the purple heart. Above this heart is Washington’s coat of arms, an enamel shield of white with two horizontal bands of red, and above them three red stars with sprays of green leaves on either side of the shield, according to the fact sheet.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, who requested that Purple Hearts be awarded to Wolfe and Beckstrom, applauded the announcement.

“Their actions while protecting our nation’s capital meet the highest standards for this recognition,” Morrisey said in a post on X.  “This announcement brings long-overdue honor to their service, offers meaning and reassurance to their families and stands as a solemn reminder that West Virginia will never forget those who sacrifice in defense of others.”

Hegseth stressed the seriousness of the Guard’s mission during his remarks at the reenlistment ceremony.

“This is not an easy assignment; it’s the real deal,” he said. “Your wives, husbands, parents, sons, daughters, you’re away from them—probably talk to them every day. You miss them. The fact that you’re willing to reenlist in this mission means you, they, everybody else understands how important it is. I certainly do.”