President Barack Obama made an unannounced four-hour visit to Dover Air Force Base the morning of Oct. 29 to take part in the dignified transfer of the remains of an Indiana soldier killed recently in Afghanistan.
Members of the media watched as the president, whose order earlier this year prompted the opening of the transfer operations to journalists, saluted as a six-man team carried the remains of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Ind., from a C-17 Globemaster III to a waiting van. The van then drove several hundred yards to the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, where the remains will be prepared for return to Griffin’s family.
The C-17 had carried the remains of 15 soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents back to Dover; Griffin’s flag draped transfer case was the last of 18 to removed from the aircraft. Obama was present as all of the transfer cases were carried from the Globemaster to mortuary vans, although Griffin’s was the only instance where the media was present.
Journalists only may cover the transfers only if permission is granted by the soldier’s family.
Griffin died Oct. 26 in southern Afghanistan. He was one of eight soldiers killed when their vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb.
The remaining seven soldiers and the DEA agents also died Oct. 26 when their Chinook helicopter crashed in Afghanistan.
Obama arrived via Marine One helicopter at 12:34 a.m. and was greeted by 436th Airlift Wing commander Col. Manson O. Morris. The president then joined a motorcade that took him to the base chapel, where he met with family members of the fallen soldiers.
On the base flightline, Obama boarded the C-17 to take part in a short prayer before the remains were taken off. When the transfers were complete, the president reboarded Marine One, returning to the White House by 4:45 a.m.
Asked later in the day about whether the trip might influence future policy regarding Afghanistan, the president said, “Well, obviously it was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day — not only our troops, but their families as well. And so Michelle and I are constantly mindful of those sacrifices.
“And obviously the burden that both our troops and our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts. And it is something that I think about each and every day.”
It was the first time a sitting president has attended the services marking the return of soldiers’ remains to the United States from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama was joined by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and DEA Acting Administrator Michael Leonhart, as well as other senior Army and Air Force officers.
