Trump attends dignified transfer of soldiers killed in Iranian attacks

Washington — President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware honoring the four U.S. Army soldiers killed in the Middle East in recent days during the ongoing war with Iran. 

The Trump administration is investigating attacks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan that led to the deaths of two of the soldiers, and the presumed death of one other who was initially described as missing. The dignified transfer also included an Army sergeant killed at a base in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone. 

The service members who were killed were:

• Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Hawaii
• Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas
• Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28, of New York
• Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of North Carolina

“We’re going to Dover,” the president told reporters before attending the silent transfer. “Some of you are going with us, to honor our heroes, and they are indeed great heroes, actually. They said, and they — all of them said very strongly — we can’t let, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. They won’t have a nuclear weapon. So we’re going to honor them. And it’s one of the hardest things to do. For me, it’s one of the hardest things to do as a president. But, has to be done.”

Feehan and Gonzales were both killed in action during the strikes on the base in Jordan, according to the Pentagon. U.S. Central Command had announced Rampersad as missing in action, but updated her status Tuesday to whereabouts unknown, and she is believed to have been killed. Swinton, a father of two, was killed at Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq during the detonation of an Iranian drone.

The president told reporters Wednesday that the administration would share the results of the probe into the attacks in Jordan. 

A dignified transfer is a nonceremonial movement of a fallen U.S. service member killed in a theater abroad back to the United States. The fallen are moved in flag-draped cases, not caskets, and carried by members of the military. It is customary for the president or other high-ranking administration officials to attend.