On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump attended the repatriation ceremony for the bodies of two U.S. service members and a translator who were killed in Syria earlier in the week by an attacker suspected of being affiliated with ISIS.
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Trump, accompanied by Defense Secretary Pete Higgsith, went to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness what the Air Force calls a “dignified transfer” of the two service members in the presence of their families.
On a cold and windy day, Trump, Higgsith, and others stood near the door of a military transport plane and saluted as soldiers wearing white gloves carried the flag-draped coffins one by one and placed them into a waiting vehicle.
The U.S. military stated that two of its soldiers and a civilian translator were killed when an attacker targeted a convoy of U.S. and Syrian forces before being shot dead.
The Iowa National Guard announced that the two service members killed were Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and Sergeant Edarg Brian Torres-Tovar, 25. The translator was identified as Iyad Mansour from Michigan.
Trump described the Saturday attack as “horrific,” vowed retaliation, and called the three victims “great patriots.” Three additional U.S. soldiers were also injured in the attack.
It is customary for the U.S. president, vice president, and senior officials to attend official transfer ceremonies at Dover during times of war or conflict involving the deaths of American troops. Flag-draped coffins are carefully unloaded from the military plane and placed into waiting vehicles while officials and family members observe, often shedding tears.
Dover Air Force Base houses the largest U.S. military mortuary.
— Reuters
