DOVER, Del. — On Wednesday, President Donald Trump made his way to the solemn grounds of Dover Air Force Base to honor four U.S. service members who lost their lives in the Middle East.
As reported by the White House, Trump was present to witness the return of these fallen heroes to their grieving families. This duty, one of the most profound a president can perform, marked Trump’s third attendance at such a dignified transfer since initiating a military campaign in Iran back in February.
According to a government insider, speaking privately due to restrictions, two U.S. Army soldiers were casualties of combined missile and drone strikes by Iran in Jordan. Their transfer home was part of this dignified ritual.
Additionally, the remains of a third service member, who is believed to have gone missing after attacks in Jordan, will be returned. The remains of another soldier, who died during an Iranian drone incident in Iraq, will also be honorably transferred.
“I’ll be heading to Dover for a duty I regard with the utmost honor,” President Trump expressed from the Oval Office on Tuesday, underscoring the gravity and respect involved in this humbling task.
The soldiers killed in Jordan were identified by the Defense Department as Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. The soldier who disappeared after the Jordan attacks and is now believed to be deceased is Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, the Defense Department said.
The soldier killed in Iraq was identified as Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, who lived in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
“We feel very badly, but you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting so that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. He added that the U.S. was striking Iran “in honor” of the fallen troops.
The U.S. has launched multiple retaliatory strikes against Iran as an interim agreement to end the war falls apart. Trump on Monday said that every time Iran kills an American soldier, “they will pay for that killing many times over!”
Since the war began on Feb. 28, 18 U.S. service members have been killed.
Trump on Tuesday said that while almost all the incoming fire in Jordan was stopped, some made it through.
“They did slip something through in Jordan,” he said. “If we had other operators, you know, it would have not happened, unfortunately.”
He went on: “We’ve stopped almost everything, but when you let other people do your job with the United States – we let other people do the job – and sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”
Trump did not elaborate on his comments, and it was not immediately clear who Trump was saying was responsible for protecting U.S. forces in Jordan.
Trump has attended two previous dignified transfers since the outset of the war, most recently in March. During his first term, he described the ritual as “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.
During the ritual, transfer cases draped with the American flag and holding the remains of the fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that transported them to an awaiting vehicle to take them to the mortuary facility at the base. There, the service members are prepared for their final resting place.
Feehan, a first lieutenant who was killed Saturday, will be posthumously promoted to the rank of captain and awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge. He was assigned out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command.
Gonzales, who was killed Friday, was a private with the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany. She graduated last year from Hebron High School in Carrollton, near Dallas, school officials said.
Rampersad, a sergeant who was believed to have been killed in Friday’s attacks, was assigned to the 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.
Swinton, a sergeant who was killed Sunday, will receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant. He enlisted in the Army in 2017 and was assigned to the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
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