House Votes To Posthumously Award Congressional Gold Medal To Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 12 Other Service Members
BOSTON (CBS) – The House of Representatives voted Monday night to posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to 13 U.S. service members, including Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo of Lawrence, who were killed in an August suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
The bipartisan legislation passed unanimously. It now moves to the Senate.
In September, Sen. Elizabeth Warren co-sponsored a similar bill in the Senate. Warren co-sponsored the bipartisan bill with Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines.
"We feel Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo's absence in Lawrence and across the Third District every day," said Massachusetts Congresswoman Lori Trahan. "There is no one more deserving of this distinction than Johanny and her fellow servicemembers who made the ultimate sacrifice so thousands of Americans and our Afghan allies could get to safety. I'm grateful to my colleagues for joining with me to unanimously honor their heroic service."
Rosario Pichardo, 25, was a Marine for eight years. She was one of 13 U.S. troops killed August 26 in the suicide bomber attack during the evacuation mission at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. She was screening women and girls at the time.
Roasario Pichardo was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart in September.
