Obama Meets With Families, Honors Fallen Soldiers

President Barack Obama has spent a few hours getting a first-hand look at the cost of war: the Americans who return in flag-covered caskets. Obama made a midnight trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware base to honor the return of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan this week.

AP
Published: October 29, 2009

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DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) - President Barack Obama has spent a few hours getting a first-hand look at the cost of war: the Americans who return in flag-covered caskets.

Obama made a midnight trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware base to honor the return of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan this week.

He met privately with the families of the the dead in a base chapel, and witnessed the solemn process of transferring remains of 15 soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency agents.

Only one of the fallen was honored in full view of the media, with the permission of his family. The president led a team of officials onto the cargo plane carrying the remains of Dale Griffin, an Army sergeant from Terre Haute, Ind., and then back off. The president saluted as six soldiers carried Griffin’s remains into a waiting white van.

By 4:45 a.m., the president had touched back down on the South Lawn of the White House and walked inside, alone.