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The remains of two members of the Iowa National Guard killed in an attack Syria welcomed back into the desert des moines On Wednesday, Christmas Eve was celebrated for their bereaved families.
Many loved ones approached the coffins carrying 25-year-old Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and 29-year-old William Nathaniel Howard. The families came closer to each other, consoling each other and wiping away tears. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, US Senator. joni ernst And U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn was seen with senior leaders of the Iowa National Guard.
The guards, along with an American civilian interpreter killed in the Dec. 13 ambush, were flown back to the US last week, when President Donald Trump paid tribute to them and met with their families at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
On Wednesday, Howard, along with his half-brother and two other members of the Iowa National Guard, carried wooden coffins loaded with bodies down from an Iowa Air National Guard plane that had flown from Sioux City to collect the soldiers’ remains from Delaware.
In Des Moines, as in Dover, as part of the solemn transfer ritual, fellow Iowa National Guard members wearing white gloves picked up the cases. After families spent several minutes on the road mourning their loved ones, each coffin was loaded into a hearse, one blue and the other black.
Both soldiers, who were posthumously promoted to staff sergeants, were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment. Their families followed the hearse in a procession to funeral homes in Des Moines and Marshalltown, escorted by the Des Moines Police Department and the Iowa State Patrol, respectively. According to the Iowa National Guard, his funeral will take place in the coming days.
On the walkway away from the 132nd Wing at Des Moines International Airport, dozens of people stood on the mild December day carrying American flags and paying their respects to the fallen soldiers.
Ayad Mansour Sakat of Macomb, Michigan, an American citizen working as an interpreter, was also killed. He was buried in Michigan over the weekend.
Hundreds of US troops are deployed to eastern Syria as part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group, and Trump promised a “very serious response” after the attack. The administration conducted military attacks on the Defense Secretary last week. pete hegseth A post on social media described it as a “declaration of vengeance”.
Three other members of the Iowa National Guard were injured in the attack, one of whom was treated locally. Two other people evacuated from Syria returned to the US on December 20 for medical treatment.