Donald Trump paid tribute this Wednesday to four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks in the Middle East during a repatriation ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.
Their coffins, draped in the national flag, were lowered from the plane before their families, who watched from a distance as seven-member teams carried them toward the vehicles positioned on the tarmac, which transported them to the base morgue, the largest facility of its kind in the country.
Trump, dressed in a blue suit and red tie, stood by the tarmac and saluted during the transfer, in what was his third attendance at this type of ceremony since the start of the war in February. He was accompanied by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Senators Thom Tillis, Republican from North Carolina, and Chris Coons, Democrat from Delaware.
The coffins of the four U.S. service members who fell in the Middle East.
Before the press, the president described the act as “one of the hardest things to do as president” and previewed the message he would convey to the families: “We love you. We love your child. There are no games, there is none of that; it is your child.”
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Three of the victims lost their lives on Friday when an Iranian missile struck inside the Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan. The Department of Defense identified them as First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York; and Specialist Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. All three were assigned to Army air defense brigades stationed in Germany.
The fourth, Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, fell on Sunday in a separate incident in Erbil, Iraq, during the detonation of an attack drone. All four will posthumously receive the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Action Badge.
Feehan, who will also be promoted to captain, planned to marry his fiancée and study law after his deployment. His family, who traveled on Air Force One with the president, described him as someone who “deeply believed in the power of military service” and announced the creation of a scholarship in his name. Gonzales had graduated the previous year from Hebron High School, on the outskirts of Dallas.
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The four service members will posthumously receive the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Action Badge.
Since the beginning of the conflict on February 28, casualties total 18 U.S. military personnel and thousands of Iranians, at a cost of at least $37.5 billion from the federal budget. The Pentagon reported that 100 personnel have been wounded since July 7, 96% of whom have returned to duty.
On Tuesday, Trump acknowledged that some projectiles managed to get through the defenses in Jordan: “When you let others do their job, sometimes things don’t go well.” He did not specify to whom he attributed that responsibility. On Sunday, he had promised that every time Iran causes the death of an American soldier, “they will pay for that death many times over!”
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about the war’s objectives. A poll conducted this month revealed that 4 out of 5 citizens expect the war to drag on, and only 37% approved of military strikes against Iran.
