The remains of three U.S. soldiers killed in an attack by an Iranian-made drone in Jordan will arrive back on home soil Friday to a solemn reception from grieving families at Dover Air Force Base.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will also be there, Reuters reports.
Friday will be the second “dignified transfer” Biden attends as president. In August 2021, he took part in the ritual for 13 servicemembers killed during a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Biden faced criticism on that occasion after a viral video emerged on social media of him looking at his watch at the 40 minute mark of the transfer ceremony of the slain Marines, as Breitbart News reported.
The three Army Reserve soldiers killed last Sunday were Sergeant William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia, and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, as Breitbart News reported.
More than 40 other service members were also injured following an uncrewed aerial system attack at a military base near the Syrian border. Of those, eight had to be evacuated.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will join the presidential couple on the tarmac for the return of the deceased.
The White House said the Bidens will meet at the base with family members of the fallen before the transfer. He offered his condolences to the families in a phone call on Tuesday.
The remains are typically flown to Dover aboard a C-17 cargo plane.
.@RealDonaldTrump: "The drone attack on a U.S. Military Installation in Jordan, killing 3 American Servicemembers, and wounding many more, marks a horrible day for America." https://t.co/6WerDHT0BZ
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 29, 2024
Working with solemn precision, a team of soldiers will carry the caskets from the open bay of the plane to gray mortuary vans, as the families and the presidential entourage watch, the Reuters report details.
The parents of Specialist Sanders, 23, shared a video of Biden’s call with local media outlets.
“I know there is nothing anybody can say or do to ease the pain, I’ve been there,” Biden reportedly said, recounting the death of his first wife, infant daughter and grown son, Beau.
He can't help himself! https://t.co/qzUeMSMWd8
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 1, 2024
As John Nolte of Breitbart News noted, Biden’s oldest son, Beau Biden, was indeed deployed to Iraq in 2008 but did not die there.
After his year of active duty, Beau returned with a Bronze Star and returned to his life as Delaware’s Attorney General.
Three years later, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Two years later, at the age of 46, he died.
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