U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth salute during a dignified transfer of the remains of two Iowa National Guard members killed in Syria, Sgt. Edgar Torres Tovar and Sgt. William Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, who was working as an interpreter in Syria, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, U.S., December, 17, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
First Lady Melania Trump made the last-minute decision to skip a solemn dignified transfer ceremony to honor two U.S. service members killed in action in Syria.
President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy George attended the ceremony for the Iowa soldiers on Wednesday.
Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, were killed in the Syrian desert on Saturday.
"First Lady Melania Trump was scheduled to join them, but a White House official said she could no longer attend," CBS News reported.
The ceremony took place on the day the first lady released a trailer for her film "MELANIA."
