President Donald Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Wednesday to honor four American servicemembers killed in the Middle East in the Iran conflict. He spoke to reporters before his flight and said it was one of the hardest things a commander in chief has to do:

We're going to Dover…. to honor our heroes, and they are indeed great heroes, actually. They said, and all of them said very strongly, 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.

His message to the fallen and their families: we love you.

President Trump on his message to the families he’s visiting with right now at Dover for the Dignified Transfer: “All I’m going to say is we love you. We love your child, and that’s what they are to them. They’re their children. There’s no games, no nothing. That’s their child, and all you can do is throw out your heart.”

As we reported Monday, the president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio honored the first two soldiers who were confirmed to have been killed in an Iranian missile strike on an American base in Jordan, 19-year-old Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, and 25-year-old 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan of Hawaii. We now also know that New York’s Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad (28) also died during that attack, while North Carolina’s Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton (30) perished due to a drone detonation in Iraq.

Today, we honor four American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation.

1st Lt. Tyler Feehan

Sgt. Michael Swinton

Sgt. Angel Rampersad

Pvt. Isabella Gonzales

May God hold them in His eternal embrace and comfort their grieving families, and may God forever bless the United States of America. 🙏🇺🇸


'Great Patriots': Trump, Rubio Honor Two Young US Troops Killed by Iranian Missile Attacks

CENTCOM Reports 2 US Fatalities in Iranian Attack on Jordan; SecWar Hegseth Reacts


The military describes a dignified transfer as a solemn procedure, not a ceremony:

A dignified transfer is the process by which, upon the return from the theater of operations to the United States, the remains of fallen military members are transferred from the aircraft to an awaiting vehicle. The remains will then be transferred to the mortuary facility located at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, Dover AFB, Del. The dignified transfer is not a ceremony; rather, it is a solemn movement of the transfer case by a carry team composed of military personnel from the fallen member's respective service. 

May God bless our troops.