Despite deeming the incident “workplace violence,” the U.S. Army has now decided it will award Purple Heart medals to military members wounded in the shooting rampage by Maj. Nidal Hasan in Fort Hood, Texas.

Thirteen soldiers died in Hasan’s 2009 attack.

“The Purple Heart’s strict eligibility criteria had prevented us from awarding it to victims of the horrific attack at Fort Hood,” Secretary of the Army John McHugh announced Friday, according to KWTX.

“Now that Congress has changed the criteria, we believe there is sufficient reason to allow these men and women to be awarded and recognized with either the Purple Heart or, in the case of civilians, the Defense of Freedom medal. It’s an appropriate recognition of their service and sacrifice,” he said.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 changed the definition of “what should be considered an attack by a foreign terrorist organization for the purposes of determining eligibility,” according to the Army.

Hassan, who opened fire in the crowded center, “was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack,” the Army determined, and as a result “his radicalization and subsequent acts could reasonably be considered to have been ‘inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization.’”

According to Stripes.com, soldiers receiving the Purple Heart qualify for “combat-related special compensation” upon retirement.

They are also eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

“Since the days following the attack in 2009, the victims, their families, the Fort Hood community and so many of us have recognized that fateful day for what it was: an act of terrorism against our country and against our men and women in uniform,” bill co-sponsor U.S. Reps. John Carter said.

“At long last, the Pentagon will formally recognize that fact as well and bestow the appropriate military honors and benefits on the victims who so rightly deserve them. We can never repay what was lost that day, but today’s news brings long-awaited justice to the victims, especially those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice on November 5, 2009,” he said.

The state’s U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both called Friday “a day of victory.”