Airman who helped save Afghan kids’ lives finally gets his due after paperwork snafu

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Master Sgt. Matthew Parker has finally received recognition for helping to save the lives of three children after one of the deadliest days for U.S. forces in Afghanistan more than three years ago.

The official record of his actions to aid the critically injured Afghan children on a C-17 military flight from Kabul to Qatar on Aug. 27, 2021, was lost.

A respiratory therapist on a critical care air transport team, Parker received no award for the mission or for his deployment to the Middle East during the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, others with whom he had deployed received awards within months of returning home.

When he reached out to the unit he was assigned to in Kuwait, they told him, “ ‘We have a folder that says Parker, but there’s nothing in it,’ ” he recalled.