Des Moines, Iowa – remains Two members of the Iowa National Guard killed in Attack in the Syrian desert They were welcomed back to Des Moines on Wednesday, an official Christmas Eve celebration for their grieving families.
Several loved ones approached the caskets bearing Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and William Nathaniel Howard, 29. Families gathered together, comforting each other and wiping away tears. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, US Senator Joni Ernst and US Representative Zach Nunn attended, along with senior leaders of the Iowa National Guard.
The dead guards, as well as an American civilian translator killed in the December 13 ambush, were flown back to the United States last week, when President Donald Trump Pay his respects He met with families at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
On Wednesday, accompanied by Howard’s half-brother and two other members of the Iowa National Guard, wooden boxes covered with the American flag were lowered from the fuselage of an Iowa Air National Guard plane that had taken off from Sioux City to collect the remains of soldiers from Delaware.
In Des Moines, as in Dover, as part of the formal transfer ritual, members of the Iowa National Guard carried the boxes wearing white gloves. After families spent several minutes mourning their loved ones on the runway, both caskets were loaded into a hearse, one blue and one black.
The two soldiers, who were posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant, were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment. Their families followed the funerals in a procession to funeral homes in Des Moines and Marshalltown, escorted by the Des Moines Police Department and the Iowa State Patrol, respectively. Their funerals will be held in the coming days, according to the Iowa National Guard.
Down the road from Suite 132 at Des Moines International Airport, dozens of people lined up on a balmy December day carrying American flags and paying their respects to fallen soldiers.
Also killed was Iyad Mansour Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, an American civilian working as an interpreter. He was buried in Michigan over the weekend.
Hundreds of US troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of the coalition fighting ISIS, and Trump promised “very serious retaliation” after the attack. Management continued last week Military strikes In what Defense Minister Pete Hegseth described as a “declaration of retaliation” in a post on social media.
Three other Iowa National Guard members were injured in the attack, one of whom was treated locally. Two more evacuees from Syria for medical treatment returned to the United States on December 20.