DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware — President Donald Trump solemnly saluted as the flag-draped cases of three Americans — two Iowa National Guardsmen and one civilian — were carried across the tarmac Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base, days after the president vowed revenge for their killing in Syria.
A gray C-17 transport plane landed on U.S. soil with the remains of Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines. The body of Ayad Mansoor Sakat, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter who was also killed in the attack, followed.
An assailant on Saturday ambushed a meeting between U.S. and Syrian officials near the city of Palmyra. Three additional U.S. soldiers were wounded, according to CENTCOM.
Trump blamed the attack on ISIS and vowed “serious retaliation” against the Islamic State group. He told reporters at the White House on Sunday that he pledged to hit them back “hard.”
As of yet, there has been no U.S. response to the attacks.
Trump attended the dignified transfer alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. No speeches were given, but the president privately met with the families of the victims for nearly an hour upon arriving at Dover Air Force Base.
Trump, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from Dover, said it was “a beautiful event for three great people.”
This is the first dignified transfer Trump has witnessed since returning to office in January. Trump, during his first term, acknowledged that watching fallen soldiers return home was his “toughest” duty as president.
