After a suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson on Oct. 1, 2012, her wife and fellow guardswoman Tracy Dice Johnson was left in the dark as to whether or not the U.S. military would recognize their marriage and grant her the same benefits to which heterosexual married couples are entitled.

The Defense of Marriage Act, which only recognized heterosexual marriages for federal purposes, would have barred Johnson along with other homosexual war widows from receiving benefits, the Huffington Post reported.

Such benefits included a $1,215 monthly indemnity payment and the military returning wedding rings to the spouse. Johnson remained a staunch supporter of repealing DOMA until the U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck it down in June 2013.

Johnson wasn't notified by the military directly, despite being listed as her wife's next of kin. The casualty officers told Donna Johnson's mother of her death first because the military did not recognize the marriage as being valid.

However, according to the Army Times, Johnson announced at the American Military Partner Association's gala on Saturday that the VA had officially recognized the two service women's marriage and granted her all the same benefits heterosexual spouses receive.

Johnson was also awarded the organization's 2014 Community Hero Award at the gala where she called the VA's decision "an important step toward our end goal of achieving equal treatment for all military families."

According to the Huffington Post, the Johnsons are believed to be the first same-sex couple to suffer a casualty since 2011 when "don't ask, don't tell" -- a federal law that banned military service people from being openly gay -- was repealed.

Although the Supreme Court struck down DOMA in 2013, Johnson will still receive the benefits retroactively as her wife's death occurred before the ruling.