Fifty years ago, a group of Cuban exiles who eagerly volunteered for a clandestine mission to topple Fidel Castro were left largely abandoned in Cuba when U.S. support for the mission evaporated.

The Bay of Pigs would go down as one of the United States’ biggest strategic blunders: More than 100 men were killed, and Castro stayed. But the survivors of Brigade 2506 have never lost their resolve. On Wednesday, eight of the estimated 1,100 surviving members basked in a congressional salute: a resolution put into the Senate record and remarks from the floor of the House.