President Joe Biden honored the three U.S. service members who were killed last weekend in Jordan during the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.
“I spoke with each of the families separately, and [First Lady] Jill [Biden] and I will be there tomorrow at Dover Air Force Base to receive the dignified transfer of their bodies,” he said. “They’ve put their lives in harm’s way. They’ve risked it all, and I will never forget the sacrifice and service to our country of the dozens of service members who were wounded and are recovering now.”
Biden spoke earlier in the week with the relatives of the service members: Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia. The members were killed Sunday in a drone strike that targeted a small U.S. military base in northeast Jordan known as Tower 22.
At the request of the families, Biden will attend the dignified transfer Friday in Delaware.
A dignified transfer is the process by which a service member who was killed overseas is returned to the U.S. and transported from the aircraft to an awaiting transfer vehicle, which will take the fallen to a mortuary for identification and preparations for their final resting place.
During the prayer breakfast, which took place at Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol, Biden also mentioned the Israel-Hamas war.
“I also see the trauma, the death and destruction in Israel and Gaza,” he said. “I understand the pain and passion felt by so many here in America and around the world. We value and pray for the lives taken and for the families left behind. For all of those who are living in dire circumstances, innocent men, women, and children held hostage or under bombardment or displaced, not knowing where their next meal will come front, or if it will come at all.”
Biden has been trailed by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack launched the war, and he made sure to acknowledge the passions and pain felt on both sides of the conflict.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Not only do we pray for peace, we are actively working for peace, security, dignity, for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” he said. “I’m engaged in this day and night and working, as many of you in this room are, to find the means to bring our hostages home. To ease the humanitarian crisis and to bring peace to Gaza and Israel, an enduring peace with two states for two peoples.”
The president will head to the Detroit area later Thursday before heading to his home state of Delaware on Friday night.