President Donald Trump attended the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members killed in recent attacks tied to the war with Iran on Wednesday, then flew to Georgia with the parents of one of the fallen soldiers after learning they were headed to the same event.
Army 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton were returned to Dover Air Force Base after they were killed in separate attacks in Jordan and Iraq.
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Dover ceremony honors the fallen
Trump stood alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other military leaders as each flag-draped transfer case was carried from the aircraft. Before arriving in Delaware, he called attending a dignified transfer “one of the hardest things to do as a president.” He later met privately with the families before the ceremony.
Feehan family joins Air Force One
Trump later traveled to Marietta, Georgia, where he told the audience he had invited Feehan’s parents to fly with him after learning they were headed to the same event.
“I said, so if you want, I’ll give you a ride on Air Force One. And they said, wow. Wow,” Trump told the crowd.
During his remarks, Trump thanked Stephen and Shari Feehan for their son’s service and said the country would carry Tyler Feehan’s memory forward. Images from Georgia showed the couple arriving with the president before joining him at the event.
Air defense units carried the burden
All four service members served in Army air defense units responsible for protecting U.S. forces from incoming missiles and drones.
Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed when an Iranian missile struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, was initially listed as missing before the Pentagon confirmed he had also died in the attack. Swinton, 30, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, was killed at Erbil Air Base in Iraq while taking part in the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone.
Those losses reflect how the conflict has changed for U.S. forces. Army air defense units now spend much of their time defending bases across the Middle East from repeated missile and drone attacks, and more than 100 American troops have been wounded since the latest fighting resumed.
The Pentagon says 18 U.S. service members have been killed since the war with Iran began earlier this year.
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