WASHINGTON – Today (Thursday), President Joe Biden signed a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Marine Corporal Daegan Page from Red Oak, Iowa. The bipartisan legislation awards the Congressional honor to all thirteen U.S. servicemembers who were killed while protecting civilians at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.

Axne said “I’m proud to see the service and bravery of Marine Corporal Daegan Page honored today with the Congressional Gold Medal. Corporal Page made the ultimate sacrifice in Kabul this summer while protecting innocent civilians and his fellow servicemembers – and though I wish that this honor could return Corporal Page to his parents and his grateful nation, I hope his family and friends know that his service and bravery will never be forgotten.”

Daegan Page. (Photo from the FB memorial page.)

“The selfless actions of this young man and the twelve other service members who died alongside him were nothing short of heroic – and I’m glad that the measure that I co-sponsored to bestow this honor will now officially preserve his memory in our nation’s history forever.”

As of June 2021, the Congressional Gold Medal had only been awarded to 173 people or institutions since the award was created in 1776. In September, Rep. Axne voted to pass defense policy legislation that included an amendment co-sponsored by Axne to establish a memorial for the same thirteen servicemembers honored by today’s vote. Her office says Rep. Axne also recently led the Iowa delegation in the introduction of a resolution honoring the service and sacrifice of all Iowa servicemembers who served in Afghanistan over the past two decades.