President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden honored the lives of the three U.S. service members killed in a drone strike in Jordan over the weekend by attending the dignified transfer of their remains at Dover Air Force Base on Friday. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden honored the lives of the three U.S. service members killed in a drone strike in Jordan over the weekend
  • The president and first lady joined the families of the three fallen soldiers to witness the dignified transfer of the remains at Dover Air Force Base after meeting with the families of those killed
  • The deaths were the first U.S. fatalities blamed on Iran-backed militia groups -- who for months have been intensifying their attacks on American forces in the region -- since the start of the Israel-Hamas war 
  • Biden has vowed to respond to the attack that the U.S. this week said was planned, resources and facilitated by an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq 

The president and first lady joined the families of the three fallen soldiers to witness the bodies, which were draped in flags, carried from an aircraft to a van as a chaplain read a prayer. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown stood with the Bidens at the solemn ceremony. 

Ahead of the transfer, the president met with the families of the troops killed: Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga., Sgt. Kennedy Sanders 24, of Waycross, Ga., and Sgt. Breonna Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga. Sanders and Moffett were promoted to sergeant rank after their deaths.

A video shared by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution captured Biden personally informing Sanders’ parents of the promotion over the phone. 

“We’re promoting her posthumously to sergeant,” Biden told Shawn Sanders and Oneida Oliver-Sanders on the phone call. 

“Oh wow, that is the best news I’ve heard today, thank you so much,” Oliver-Sanders responded. “You don’t know how much that means to us.” 

“Well I’ll tell you what, it means a lot to me,” the president said, going on to talk about losing his son, Beau Biden, to brain cancer. President Biden has expressed his belief that there is a possible link between his son’s illness and exposure to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard. 

The president is often referred to as the "consoler-in-chief" due to the personal losses he has experienced that have become a part of his political identity. 

“The day will come when you walk by a park Kennedy played in, or you open a closet and smell the fragrance of her clothing … and you’ll smile before you cry,” Biden told the parents, an oft-used refrain by the president in such moments. “It takes a hell of a long time to get there, but I promise you you’ll get there.” 

The video also shows Biden asking the Sanders family if he could attend the dignified transfer. The White House earlier this week said the president personally asked the families if he could join them on Friday. 

The deaths were the first U.S. fatalities blamed on Iran-backed militia groups, who for months have been intensifying their attacks on American forces in the region following the onset of the Israel-Hamas war in October. Separately, two Navy SEALs died during a January mission to board an unflagged ship that was carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen.

The event came just hours before the U.S. carried out retaliatory strikes on more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria by sites used by Iranian-backed militias in retaliation for the Jordan drone strike, according to U.S. Central Command.

The drone attack also injured more than 40 troops. 

“These service members embodied the very best of our nation: Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty. Unbending in their commitment to our country — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism,” Biden said earlier this week. “It is a fight we will not cease.”

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Biden mentioned the service members by name. 

Sanders, 24, worked at a pharmacy while studying to become an X-ray technician and coached children’s soccer and basketball. She had volunteered for the deployment because she wanted to see different parts of the world, according to her parents.

Moffett had turned 23 years old just nine days before she was killed. She had joined the Army Reserves in 2019, but also worked for a home care provider to cook, clean and run errands for people with disabilities.

Rivers, who was 46 years old and went by Jerome, joined the Army Reserve in New Jersey in 2011 and served a nine-month tour in Iraq in 2018.

Biden’s presence on Friday marked the second dignified transfer he has attended since entering the White House as president. In August 2021, he took part in the ceremony for the 13 service members killed in Kabul in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber at the airport’s Abbey Gate. 

As vice president, Biden in 2016 attended a dignified transfer for two U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide blast at Bagram Airfield. He also attended one as a senator in 2008 after the family requested his presence and the Pentagon gave him permission to do so.

The Associated Press contributed to this report