DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware – President Biden landed in Delaware Sunday morning to join the families of the 13 U.S. military personnel who were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan last week.
Service members include 11 Marines, one Navy medic, and one Army member. They were killed by an Islamic State Khorasan bomber at the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, when they tried to help people flee the country before American troops completed their withdrawal.
The president and first lady, Jill Biden, met with families on Sunday morning. They then participated in 13 transfers – 11 for families who allowed the media to watch the remains of their loved ones returning home, and two for families who kept their transfers private.
The fallen soldiers who returned to Dover on Sunday were: Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City; Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, from Lawrence, Mass .; Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, from Sacramento, California; Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California; Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha; Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind .; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo .; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California; Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California; Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio; and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.
