Hundreds of airmen are set to receive awards, including some of the military's top honors, for the evacuation of Afghan citizens from Kabul amid the U.S. withdrawl from Afghanistan last year on August 30, 2021. The Air Force is planning to hand out more than 350 awards for the heroism airmen showed during Operation Allied Refuge, the largest non-combatant air-evacuation in U.S. history, which took place during the Biden administration's withdrawl from Afghanistan in August 2021, the branch announced.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     More than 120,000 Afghans - and thousands of Americans - were airlifted from the Hamid Karzai International Airport during the operation as the Taliban retook Afghanistan and captured Kabul in the final days of the United States' 20-year war there. "The world witnessed history during that airlift, born on the sholders of mobility heroes," said Gen. Mike Minihan, commander of the Air Mobility Command. "This recognition is long overdue for what our heroes did during those historic 17 days."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Among the awards are 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses for exceptional heroism in flight, as well as 12 Bronze Star Medals for non-flight related heroism against an armed enemy. The 621st Contingency Reaponse Group as a whole will get the Gallant Unit Citation for quickly repairing and running the airfield while it was surrounded by the Taliban.