how afghans carrying american ties held signs with the name 'chesty puller' - the most decorated marine in us history - as a covert way to ensure safe entry into kabul airport

A family of eight Afghans were able to escape Kabul in the nick of time by invoking the name of the most decorated Marine in history - Chesty Puller.

Puller was legendary for his leadership in World War II and the Korean war, and while not necessarily known by everyone, is a famous figure in the U.S. Marine Corp.

So when the family were seen holding cardboard signs bearing Chesty Puller's name outside of Kabul airport as the U.S. was scrambling to evacuate as many people as possible, they quickly got the attention of the marines stationed there.

The signs also served the purpose of not drawing the attention of the Taliban, who took control of Kabul earlier in August and who many feared would seek revenge on those who worked with the west.

According to their guide, the family were able make it inside Kabul airport on August 26 - moments after the suicide bomb was detonated that killed 170 people. 

Pictured: A family of hopeful Afghan evacuees hold up signs with the words 'Chesty Puller' to get noticed by Marines outside Hamid Karzai International Airport last month

Pictured: Chesty Puller, a legendary Marine known for his leadership in World War II and Korea. While not necessarily known by everyone, is a famous name in the U.S. Marine Corp

'Word had gotten passed down from the battalion leadership, down to the point man on the ground, to look out for a guy who's going to be holding the signs that say 'Chesty Puller,'' Gus Biggio, who had served with the marines in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province, told NPR.

The father of the 'Chesty Puller' family, who has not been named for their safety, had risked his life to help Biggio and his marines in the Nawa district of Helmand back in 2009, making him a wanted man when the Taliban took over.

But despite the help he gave to the marines, his application for a Special Immigrant Visa to move to the U.S. - like for many other Afghans - was moving slowly.

From Washington DC, Biggio said he connected the father and his family with a grassroots network trying to locate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans, and help them get through the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

There, thousands of people were trying to get through the gates and onto planes leaving the country to escape Afghanistan after it fell to the Taliban last month.

Among the grassroots network was Army veteran Ben Owen, who runs BlackRifle - a data intelligence company based in Georgia.  

Pictured: Armed Forces personnel deployed in Kabul to work on the evacuation of people from Afghanistan help people towrads the airport, August 21, 2021

Owen was able to make contact with the family, telling NPR that his role quickly changed from working with data, to managing the family, saying this involved communicating with them on the ground to try and get them to the gate.

The family was instructed to make signs that read 'Chesty Puller', along with other other well known Marine motifs such as 'Teufel Hunden,' meaning 'Devil Dog,' the name German troops used for Marines in World War I and '10 Nov., 1775' - the date the U.S. Marine Corps was founded.

It was hoped that by holding up these signs, the family would be spotted in the crowd gathering at the gates outside the airport.

'People holding up these signs, about 20 inches square with black writing – amongst the densely packed crowd of similarly dressed people. You can't help but notice these six white placards,' Biggio said to NPR.

Afghan citizens pack inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, as they are transported from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan, Sunday, August 15, 2021

On their first attempt, however, Owen was unable to get the family to Abbey Gate - the entrance to the airport through which people hoped to be evacuated. 

Despite them getting within meters of the gate with the right documentation, Owen said that they were forced to run back into the crowd. He said they shouldn't give up.

Biggio and Owen told the 'Chesty Puller' family to try to get out again on August 26, with Owen once again guideing them to Abbey Gate with their homemade signs.

Biggio said that he was later told the Marines waded out into the crowd and grabbed the father and the family, and pulled them towards the airport.

Once he thought they were safely through, Owen turned to helping other families, as he was working with a number of others to try and get them out.

He was speaking on the phone to another family he called 'stars and stripes' - because he instructed them to wear American flags - when a suicide bomb was detonated, killing 170 people including 13 U.S. military personnel. 

The 'Stars and Stripes' family survived and fled the scene, and amidst the shock, Owen said a realisation dawned on him - the 'Chesty Puller' family were still there at the time of the devastating blast.

He had to wait an hour before getting word that the family of eight had made it through the gate to the airport in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding the explosion.

When asked by Owen in a worried phone call whether the 'Chesty' father had made it through, he said: 'Of course I'm good – I'm with Marines.'

'So when we found out they actually made it in, I cried. I think a lot of us did,' Owen said.

Chesty Puller was the most decorated Marine in US history

Lewis Burwell 'Chesty' Puller - who earned the nickname for his barrel-chested appearance and aggressive stance -  was born on June 26, 1898 in West Point Virginia. 

There, he grew up listening to old veterans' tales of the American Civil War, idolizing Confederate General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson. 

In 1916, he wanted to enlist in the Army to fight in the border war with Mexico but was too young. 

Chesty Puller as a young captain in the Marines. He joined the corps in 1918 during World War I, but never saw action there

The following year he attended the Virginia Military Institute, but dropped out in 1918 to fight in World War I, during which he joined the Marine Corps after he had been inspired by their exploits during the Battle of Belleau Wood that year. 

Although he never saw action during the war, he remained in the corps after, and spent the interwar years on assignments in Haiti and and Nicaragua, where he got his first taste of combat against the Cacos and Sandanista rebels, and earning two Navy Crosses. 

By World War II, Puller had achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, and in September, 1942 was deployed to Guadalcanal, where he led his battalion in fierce combat. 

Rear Adm. Reginald Watts decorated Puller in 1936 in Pennsylvania, where Puller served as an instructor at the Basic School

In a daring move, he prevented three of his companies, which had been surrounded and cut off by a larger Japanese force, from destruction by rushing to shore, and signaling a destroyer to provide fire support and to send landing craft to rescue the Marines from their vulnerable position.  

For his actions in the battle, he was awarded the Bronze Star. 

At a later date on Guadalcanal, Puller would earn his third Navy Cross while leading his battalion to hold an airfield against a major Japanese attack of 3,000 men during which his and another defending Army regiment suffered 70 losses versus 1,400 Japanese killed in action. 

Puller during World War II at Guadalcanal, where as lieutenant colonel he led his battalion in fierce combat against the Japanese 

Soon after, he was made executive officer of the 7th Marine Regiment, leading men at the Battle of Cape Gloucester, where he led successful assaults against heavily fortified Japanese positions, and earned his fourth Navy Cross. 

By February 1944, Puller achieved the rank of full colonel and made commander of the First Marine Regiment. 

He would lead the group in the battle of Peleliu, the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history in which his regiment lost 1,749 out of roughly 3,000 men, and for which Puller would earn a Legion of Merit award.

After the war he was made director of the 8th Reserve District in New Orleans. 

Puller as seen in 1953, when he served as a major general in the Korean War 

In the Korean War, Puller would once again lead the First Marine Regiment, participating in the landing at Inchon in September, 1950, and was awarded the Silver Star. 

Throughout the fighting he was awarded another Legion of Merit, as well as a Distinguished Service Cross from the Army and another Navy Cross for heroism during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. 

It was during that battle that he uttered the famous line:  'We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things.'

Puller was then promoted to brigadier general, in which he took on a handful of command roles before returning to the US. 

Puller in 1965, ten years after his retirement from the Marines after suffering a stroke 

After the war, Puller took command of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before suffering a stroke and retiring in 1955 at the rank of lieutenant general. 

Overall he earned 14 awards throughout his career in the Marines.

He died in 1971 at age 73.