Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Friday that two West Virginia National Guard members — Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe — who were shot in an ambush-style attack near the White House late last year, will receive the Purple Heart.

Calling the Nov. 26 incident “a terrible thing” and saying the troops were “attacked by a radical,” Hegseth made the announcement while speaking at a National Guard reenlistment ceremony at the Washington Monument, where he administered the oath of enlistment to more than 100 Guardsmen from nine states serving in Washington, D.C.

“And we had a terrible thing happen a number of months ago,” Hegseth said. “Andrew Wolfe, Sarah Beckstrom, one lost, one recovered, thank God, in miraculous ways. Both soon to be Purple Heart recipients because they were attacked by a radical.”

The remarks mark the first public confirmation from Hegseth that the service members will receive the Purple Heart, one of the nation’s oldest military decorations, awarded to those killed or wounded by enemy action.

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The Purple Heart traces its origins to the American Revolution, when George Washington established the Badge of Military Merit in 1782, to recognize enlisted soldiers wounded or killed in service. The modern Purple Heart was revived in 1932, and is awarded in the name of the president to U.S. service members wounded or killed by enemy action.

Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were shot just blocks from the White House in what officials described as an ambush-style attack.

Beckstrom died a day after the shooting. Wolfe was seriously wounded and continues to recover.

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The accused gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, faces nine charges related to the shooting, including first-degree murder while armed and assault with intent to kill while armed. He has pleaded not guilty.

In a statement posted on X, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey thanked Hegseth for the announcement and said the recognition was long overdue.

“I thank Secretary @PeteHegseth for announcing that U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe will soon receive the Purple Heart, an honor that reflects their courage and sacrifice in defense of our nation,” Morrisey wrote.

Morrisey said he formally requested the Purple Heart awards Dec. 19, adding that the announcement “brings long-overdue honor to their service, offers meaning and reassurance to their families, and stands as a solemn reminder that West Virginia will never forget those who sacrifice in defense of others.”

Hegseth’s remarks Friday came during a ceremony honoring the National Guard’s ongoing security mission in the nation’s capital. 

According to a War Department news release, more than 100 Guardsmen from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia reenlisted Friday as part of the mission.

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Those troops are among more than 2,600 National Guard members currently deployed in Washington at the direction of President Donald Trump in support of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which was established in August 2025 after the president declared a crime emergency in the city.

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Addressing the Guardsmen, Hegseth described their service in Washington as “front lines” duty.

“This is not an easy assignment. It’s the real deal. It’s front lines,” he said. “You’ve done it, and you’ve done well.”

The Army could not immediately provide comment after being reached by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this story.

The blockage inside the collapsed sewer line that sent hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage into the Potomac River is worse than previously thought, and it’s going to take weeks longer to repair, DC Water officials said.

It will likely take an additional four to six weeks to get a system in place to safely remove large rocks and boulders crews found inside the sewer line during an overnight inspection, DC Water said in an update early Friday morning.

“Standard cleaning methods using industrial vacuums and jets are not sufficient to remove these large boulders,” DC Water said. “Addressing this blockage will require both larger machinery and manual labor. Workers will need to safely enter the pipe, use slings to maneuver around the rocks, and then rely on heavy equipment to extract each boulder, making removal a complex and highly specialized operation.”

The “large rock dam” stretches about 30 feet downstream of the original pipe collapse, the agency said.

According to DC Water, the rocks were likely excavated during the pipe’s construction in the 1960s and used as backfill. When the pipe failure happened last month, the rocks were drawn in by the force of the wastewater flow.

Then, as the surrounding material eroded into the sinkhole created by the collapse, extra rocks and soil accumulated and filled the pipe, helping create the rock dam.

A bill passed by the Republican-led House and now in the Senate could overturn parts of D.C.’s tax code for individuals and businesses, which some say could cause chaos for taxpayers.

When Congress passed President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, the legislation affected local tax laws. Several states and Washington, D.C., decoupled, choosing not to implement some of those provisions in their local tax code.

But Republicans moved legislation to block D.C. from doing that. Democrats have pushed back.

“This will just wreak havoc on the overall system, because the people of the District of Columbia have already begun filling out, in many cases, their tax forms,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said.

The House version of the bill passed along party lines. If the Senate approves the legislation and Trump signs it, it will throw D.C.’s tax season into chaos, D.C. officials say.

“It’s nothing short of deliberate administrative and fiscal sabotage,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.

In a letter to Congress, D.C. Chief Financial Officer Glenn Lee warned the District “would need to suspend the current filing season” to update tax forms and guidance, a process that would take months.

Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson sent a letter explaining, “Disapproval at this stage would create huge administrative challenges, require taxpayers to re-file their taxes, render existing guidance and forms obsolete, and necessitate rapid mid-year changes to tax administration systems. It is unclear how quickly commercial tax preparation software could be updated to accommodate such changes, and District residents and businesses would likely experience confusion, as well as delays.”

“It would be totally disruptive to tax administration,” Mendelson said. “I want to emphasize that the disapproval resolutions have absolutely no effect on the federal budget or federal operations.”

“As of the end of last year, there were a dozen states in addition to the District that had adopted decoupling legislation, including Alabama,” he said. “I mentioned that just ‘cause that’s a red state.”

Republicans who support the legislation say it will allow D.C. residents and businesses to benefit from tax breaks on things, including:

• No tax on tips,
• No tax on overtime,
• American-made car loan interest deduction
• And a senior tax deduction.

The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation early next week.