On Sunday, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden took a trip to Delaware. They attend a ceremony to honor the service members who were killed by an ISIS-K bomber at the Kabul airport on Thursday. Biden stood silently, with his right hand to his chest as transfer cases draped with the national flag were unloaded from a C-17 Globe master plane and carried past him.
Thirteen service members were killed in the attack and their remains were brought to Dover Air Force Base at 8 a.m. There is a ‘dignified transfer’ when troops return home. Biden walked with other dignitaries including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the heads of the military and the first lady, across the air base and climbed the ramp of the C-17.
The group spent a minute in prayer, inside. They came out and took position beside the plane as the bodies were removed. The relatives of the fallen service members began crying as the second transfer case emerged from the plane.
The Biden’s spent a part of the morning having private meetings with the anguished families. Their deaths brought the risks of evacuation into focus. The Afghan war cost the U.S. forces 2,400 American military lives, hundreds of thousands of Afghan lives and trillions of dollars.
The thirteen service members who lost their lives are as follows
- Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31 – Salt Lake City, Utah
- Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23 – Corryton, Tennessee
- Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23 – Sacramento, California
- Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25 – Lawrence, Massachusetts
- Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23 – Omaha, Nebraska
- Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22 – Indio, California
- Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22 – Logansport, Indiana
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20 – Norco, California
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20 – Rancho Cucamonga, California
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum , 20 – Jackson, Wyoming
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20 – St. Charles, Missouri
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20 – Rio Bravo, Texas
- Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22 – Berlin Heights, Ohio.
R.I.P.
Image Credit Twitter TheRealAndrew
