President Trump paid his respects on Wednesday at a Delaware military base where the remains of six US service members killed in the crash of a refueling aircraft were returned to their families. It was the second time since launching the war with Iran on Feb. 28 that the Republican president attended the solemn military ritual known as a dignified transfer, which he once described as the "toughest thing" he has had to do as commander in chief, the AP reports. Accompanying Trump were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and lawmakers including Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt, both Alabama Republicans.
All six crew members of a KC-135 Air Force refueling aircraft were killed last week in a plane crash over friendly territory in western Iraq while supporting operations against Iran. They were from Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Washington state. "Every person on that aircraft carried a weight most Americans will never see, and they carried it with professionalism, courage, and a level of quiet excellence that deserves to be recognized," retired Lt. Col Ernesto Nisperos, a friend of one of those killed, told the AP on Wednesday.
- The crash brought the US death toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13 service members. About 200 US service members have been injured, including 10 severely, the Pentagon has said.
- Wednesday's dignified transfer was closed to news media coverage at the request of the families in accordance with military policy. Trump spent just under two hours on the ground and didn't speak to reporters leaving Air Force One or returning to it.
- Trump last traveled to Dover Air Force Base on March 7 for the dignified transfer of six US service members who were killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait. "It's the bad part of war," he told reporters afterward. Asked then if he worried about having to make multiple trips to the base for additional dignified transfers as the war continued, he said, "I'm sure. I hate to do it, but it's a part of war, isn't it?"
- The crash killed three people assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida: Maj. John A. "Alex" Klinner, 33, who served in Birmingham, Alabama; Capt. Ariana Linse Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky.
- The three others were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio: Capt. Seth Koval, 38, a resident of Stoutsville, Ohio, who was from Mooresville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis Angst, 30, who lived in Columbus; and Master Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28, of Columbus.
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