President Donald Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday for the dignified transfer of two Iowa National Guard members killed in Syria.
Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, along with Ayad Mansoor Sakat, a U.S. civilian interpreter from Macomb, Michigan, were killed in the attack on Saturday. The two National Guard members served in the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment.
The dignified transfer is a solemn process to honor fallen U.S. service members. The remains of Torres-Tovar and Howard arrived at the Dover Air Force Base in transfer caskets draped with the American flag, after being carried off a C-17 military aircraft. The president, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) watched the event.
Their remains will be transported to the mortuary facility at the base and prepared for their final resting place in Iowa.
The dignified transfer is a mostly silent event, with neither the president nor the attendees giving public remarks.
Three more members of the Iowa National Guard were injured in the Syria attack, but the Pentagon has not yet revealed their identities.
First lady Melania Trump was also slated to appear in Delaware with the president, but for reasons that are unclear, she did not attend.
The president also met with family members of Torres-Tovar and Howard before the dignified transfer began.
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On Saturday, Trump said “there will be very serious retaliation” against ISIS after the deaths of the National Guard members and the civilian.
“We mourn the loss, and we pray for them and their parents and their loved ones,” he added.