https://nypost.com/2021/08/29/biden-in-delaware-to-pay-respects-to-us-troops-killed-in-kabul
Biden heads to Delaware for arrival of US troops killed in Kabul airport attack
By Jackie Salo
August 29, 2021 8:58am Updated
Joe and Jill Biden.
President Joe Biden is traveling with first lady Jill Biden to Dover Force Airport for a "dignified transfer" movement.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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President Biden is heading Sunday to Delaware to pay respects to the 13 U.S. troops killed in the terror attack near the Kabul airport as their bodies arrive from Afghanistan.
Biden is traveling with first lady Jill Biden to Dover Force Airport for a “dignified transfer” movement, a somber military ritual of receiving the bodies of fallen troops who died in foreign combat.
They are expected to meet with the families of the fallen troops before returning to Washington.
It will be the first time that Biden has traveled to Dover for such a ritual as president.
But during the final months of his vice presidency, he attended a dignified transfer for two U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide blast at Bagram Airfield in 2016.
In 2008, while a senator, he attended one at the request of the grieving family for a soldier killed in a car bombing in Iraq.
Joe and Jill Biden.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are expected to meet with the families of the fallen troops.
Sauk Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
In a CBS’ “Face the Nation” interview, Biden that he had to get permission from the Pentagon to attend the transfer.
The 13 troops who were killed in Kabul had been assisting with the evacuation of Americans and Afghans after the swift fall of the country’s government.
Among the casualties were 11 Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier.
The victims ranged in age from 20 to 31, including 23-year-old Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, who was captured last week in a photo cooing over an Afghan infant.
Flowers at the entrance to Camp Pendleton.
13 service members were killed in Kabul and had been assisting with the evacuation of Americans and Afghans.
Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP
All 13 US service members killed in the Kabul airport attack
“We continue to mourn the loss of these Marines and pray for their families.” Maj. Jim Stenger, a Marine Corps spokesperson, told The Post in an email.
AP
Since mid-August, the US has evacuated more than 114,400 people from Afghanistan, including 2,900 between Saturday morning and Sunday, the White House said.