By Seung Min Kim | Associated Press
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Standing solemnly under gray skies, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Friday to witness the return of three American service members killed in last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan.
It’s a ritual honoring fallen troops that is one of a commander-in-chief’ s most somber duties.
With his gloved right hand over his heart, Biden looked on as the three transfer cases draped with American flags were carried the short distance from a C-5 galaxy military transport aircraft to a waiting van. The only words spoken during the 15-minute dignified transfer, aside from the commands as each case was carried, were from an Air Force chaplain’s brief prayer, asking God for “grace and mercy.”
The first transfer case held the remains of Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Georgia. The movement was then repeated for Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross. Once the seven-member, white-gloved carry team — composed of members of the U.S. Army, in which Rivers, Moffett and Sanders served — placed the last of the cases in the van, they offered a final salute as the remains were transported to the mortuary facility at Dover.
Before the dignified transfer, the Bidens met privately with the families at the Center for Families of the Fallen on the base. The president had also spoken with them earlier this week to offer his condolences.
“This is not the homecoming for Kennedy I dreamed about,” Sanders’ father, Shawn, wrote in a Facebook posting Friday morning. “Now, I can’t stop reliving this nightmare.”
In the post, Shawn Sanders said that “kindness and outpouring of love” was “the only thing holding me up” since his daughter’s death.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who walked with the assistance of a cane, and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among the…
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