The NCAA will present posthumous awards for valor to Army Lieutenant Emily Perez and Marine Major Doug Zembiec at its annual convention in January. Both Perez and Zembiec were former college athletes who were killed in combat in Iraq.

Perez competed in track and field at Army. She was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and was leading a platoon when a roadside bomb exploded in September 2006 south of Baghdad. She was the first female West Point graduate to die in Iraq.

Zembiec was an All-American wrestler at Navy. He was killed by small arms fire in Baghdad in May of this year.

The awards will be presented at the NCAA convention January 10-14 in Nashville, Tennessee.