Two Iowa National Guard members killed in Syria return home on Christmas Eve

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The remains of two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in the Syrian desert were welcomed back to Des Moines on Wednesday, marking a solemn Christmas Eve for their grieving families.

Several loved ones approached the caskets carrying Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, and William Nathanial Howard, 29. The families huddled together, comforting one another and wiping away tears. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn looked on alongside senior leaders of the Iowa National Guard.

The killed guardsmen as well as a U.S. civilian interpreter killed in the Dec. 13 ambush were flown back to the U.S. last week, when President Donald Trump paid his respects and met with the families at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

On Wednesday, escorted by Howard’s step-brother and two other members of the Iowa National Guard, the wooden caskets draped in American flags were lowered from the body of an Iowa Air National Guard aircraft that flew from Sioux City to collect the soldiers’ remains from Delaware.

In Des Moines, like at Dover, as part of the solemn transfer ritual, fellow Iowa National Guard members wearing white gloves carried the cases. After the families spent several minutes mourning over their loved ones on the tarmac, the caskets were each loaded into a hearse, one blue and the other black.

The two soldiers, posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment. Their families followed the hearses in a procession to funeral homes in Des Moines and Marshalltown, escorted by Des Moines Police Department and Iowa State Patrol, respectively. Their funerals will take place in the coming days, according to the Iowa National Guard.

On the route away from the 132nd Wing at the Des Moines International Airport, dozens of people lined up on the mild December day carrying American flags and paying their respects to the killed soldiers.

Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed. He was laid to rest in Michigan over the weekend.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group, and Trump promised “very serious retaliation” after the attack. The administration last week proceeded with military strikes in what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as a “declaration of vengeance” in a post on social media.

Three other Iowa National Guard members were wounded in the attack, one of whom was treated locally. Two others who were evacuated from Syria for medical treatment returned to the U.S. on Dec. 20.