PENSACOLA, Fla. — The families of three sailors killed in the 2019 attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola received the Purple Heart medals that had been posthumously awarded to them.
Sunday, Dec. 6, marks one year since the 2019 shooting.
The Pensacola News Journal reports the families attended a ceremony Friday at the National Naval Aviation Museum. Recognized were 19-year-old Naval Aircrewman 3rd Class Mohammed Haitham, 21-year-old Naval Aircrewman 3rd Class Cameron Walters and 23-year-old Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson.
"I cannot pretend to fully understand the pain, confusion, anger and grief that you have experienced at his unexpected and seemingly senseless loss," said Cmdr. Michael Lofgren, executive officer of Naval Aviation Schools Command, during his speech to the families, the Journal reported.
"Indeed, it is senseless in many respects. You have been robbed of him by the cowardly act of a villain guided by a vile, vicious ideology. There is no ceremony, remembrance or memorial that will change that fact."
An aviation student from Saudi Arabia, who the FBI identified as 21-year-old Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, opened fire in a classroom before he was fatally shot by a sheriff's office deputy. Investigators soon began treating the shooting as a terrorism case, working to determine whether the gunman acted alone or as part of a larger network.
Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader who claimed responsibility for the attack, was killed in February during a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen.
In addition to the three sailors killed, eight civilians and military personnel who were injured also were recognized at the ceremony, the Journal reports. The families were to receive the sailors' Purple Heart medals in March, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the ceremony.
The Purple Heart is presented to U.S. service members who were wounded or killed as a result of enemy action. According to the USO, it is the oldest military award still presented to service members.
Walters was from Richmond Hill, Georgia, while Watson lived in Coffee, Alabama. Haitham, a native of St. Petersburg, Florida, graduated from Lakewood High School. Law enforcement and the Patriot Guard Riders escorted his remains from MacDill Air Force Base to a funeral home in St. Petersburg.
Rear Adm. Pete Garvin, commander of the Naval Education and Training Command, said the attack was a "cowardly act of terrorism," the Journal reports.
"We can never know what will be demanded of us on any given day," Garvin said. "And no one could've foreseen what would've been demanded on Dec. 6, but these men answered the call.
"With their heroic acts, they saved lives by sacrificing their own."
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