President Joe Biden and members of Georgia’s congressional delegation are expected to attend a solemn ceremony today at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the bodies of three Army reservists will arrive from Jordan.
Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah; Staff Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton; and Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross were killed Sunday in a drone attack that hit their living quarters on a U.S. base near the Syrian border. Mourners in Savannah gathered Thursday at the high school Moffett attended, and later volunteered with the JROTC after graduation, to pay respects.
She and Sanders were posthumously promoted to sergeant. The military announced Friday that Rivers was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.
The president and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to meet with families shortly after noon, before the dignified transfer ceremony at 1:30 p.m. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will be on site to cover the event.
At 6 p.m. today, Sanders’ hometown will honor her with a community gathering and moment of silence. Mourners are requested to wear purple, her favorite color.
U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter are scheduled to attend the Dover ceremony, as is U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III.
“The entire department is united in our outrage and sorrow over the death of three U.S. service members,” Austin said during a Thursday briefing. “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and their loved ones. And we know that this grief will never leave them. And we hope that they know that the department’s love and support will never leave them, either.”
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