The remains of six soldiers from an Army Reserve unit based in Des Moines were returned to the U.S. this weekend in a somber military ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.
President Trump, Vice President Vance and top officials from the Trump Administration were there, along with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa’s entire congressional delegation. Two of the soldiers were Iowans. 20-year-old Declan Coady (COH-dee) was a student at Drake and was posthumously promoted to sergeant. 45-year-old Major Jeffrey O’Brien of Waukee was commissioned as an officer in the Army Reserve in 2012 and 54-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan of Sacramento, California, had lived in Iowa for several years. The Sacramento Bee reports Kuwait was to be his final deployment after a 30 year military career. On Air Force One after the ceremony, President Trump told reporters the soldiers’ relatives are “great people” and it was “a very sad day.”
The soldiers’ remains were taken to a military mortuary on the Air Force base. The Pentagon has not announced details of their final flights to their home states. Their Army Reserve unit — the 103rd Sustainment Command — specializes in logistics for the military.
