President Donald Trump will carry out one of the most solemn responsibilities of his office on Wednesday as he attends the dignified transfer for two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in eastern Syria.
The ceremony will take place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the U.S. military honors service members who die in the line of duty. Trump, who attended several such transfers during his first term, has previously described the ritual as “the toughest thing I have to do” as commander in chief.
The U.S. Army identified the fallen soldiers as Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown. Both served with the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment and have been remembered as heroes by the Iowa National Guard.
A U.S. civilian interpreter, Ayad Mansoor Sakat of Macomb, Michigan, was also killed in the attack. Three additional Iowa National Guard members were injured. The Pentagon has not released their identities.
The troops were deployed as part of a U.S.-led coalition operating in eastern Syria to combat the Islamic State group. During a dignified transfer, flag-draped transfer cases carrying the remains of the fallen are moved from a military aircraft to a waiting vehicle, which then transports them to the base mortuary for preparation before burial.
Trump said over the weekend that he was mourning the deaths and vowed retaliation. The attack comes amid a recent thaw in relations between the United States and Syria, which has joined a U.S.-backed coalition against Islamic State.
The president has developed ties with Syria’s interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power after the removal of former president Bashar Assad. Trump met with al-Sharaa at the White House last month and said the Syrian leader was “devastated” by the attack, adding that it was unrelated to his leadership.
During his first term, Trump attended dignified transfers at Dover in 2017 for a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen, in 2019 for two Army officers killed in Afghanistan, and in 2020 for two Army soldiers killed in an insider attack.
