Six US troops killed in Iran war brought home in dignified transfer

By Haley Britzky, CNN

(CNN) — The families of the six US Army Reserve soldiers who were killed this week in Kuwait watched as their loved ones were brought home during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday.

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance joined top military officials observing the solemn event on an overcast afternoon.

The military identified the six service members killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait on March 1 as Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens and Sgt. Declan Coady. Marzan is believed to have been killed in the strike, but is still awaiting final positive identification by a medical examiner.

As the transfer cases were taken from a C-17 across the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base, Trump saluted while wearing a white ball cap with gold “USA” lettering.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine, Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and governors and senators from the soldiers’ home states were among those in attendance.

“It’s a very sad day,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after the transfer. He said that the parents of the service members “were so proud” and that such deaths are “always a very sad thing.”

All six soldiers were assigned with the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve unit out of Iowa. They were serving in the Middle East with the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, which oversees the supplying US forces throughout the Middle East.

Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes, the deputy commanding general of 1st Theater Sustainment Command, said this week that the soldiers served “relentlessly, consistently, and fearlessly.”

“They were the ultimate ambassadors for freedom,” Barnes said. “They represent the best of what our country stands for. May God grant their families peace and comfort in their memories. We will never forget them.”

Four of the six soldiers identified had served in the military for roughly two decades, while the youngest had just enlisted in 2023. Several of them had deployed together to Kuwait with the same unit previously, a former senior leader within the 103rd Sustainment Command told CNN.

Khork, 35, is remembered by his loved ones as the “life of the party” who was “known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him,” his parents and stepmother said in a statement to CNN.

Amor was just days from returning home, her husband Joey Amor told the Associated Press. She had served in the military since enlisting in 2005, and leaves behind two children — a senior in high school and a fourth grader.

O’Brien was “not only a role model to our kids, but also a goofy and silly dad, always looking for ways to make the kids laugh,” his family said in a statement to CNN affiliate KCCI. He was a husband and father to three children.

A friend of Marzan’s described the chief warrant officer as someone who “would do anything for you, and family and friends meant the most to him.” His sister described him as a “strong leader who lived by example.”

Tietjen, who would have celebrated his 43rd birthday on Tuesday, is remembered as a mentor to younger soldiers and someone who was “so easy to get along with,” the owners of a studio in Bellevue, Nebraska, that Tietjen frequented said in a statement. He leaves behind a wife and son.

Coady, 20, was an Eagle Scout and gym enthusiast. His father said he was considering extending his deployment for another nine months despite expecting to come home in May. He “was a man of few words more often than not,” his sister said in a statement to CNN, “but if you ever had the chance to talk to him about something he was passionate about, you were lucky.”

CNN first reported that the strike occurred on a makeshift operations center at the civilian port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on Sunday morning local time. A source familiar with the situation told CNN the soldiers were working out of a building they described as a triple-wide trailer with office space inside. The drone strike came quickly, and there was no siren or warning ahead of time, which would give time for troops to evacuate to a bunker, the source said.

While there were concrete barrier walls surrounding the building, the source said, there was nothing overhead that could shield it from drones or missiles. Those kinds of barriers are typical for military structures overseas to protect them from things like car bombs.

Caine said this week that the nation grieves with the families of the six fallen.

“To our Gold Star families, to our wounded warriors and their loved ones, we will never forget your sacrifice,” Caine said during a Pentagon briefing. “Our nation stands with you, and we are eternally grateful for your courage, your resiliency, your devotion to this mission and to our nation.”

The president has previously said there will likely be more US casualties in the Iran war. Asked Saturday whether he thought he would have to attend more dignified transfers, Trump said, “I’m sure. I hate to … but it’s a part of war.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji, Emma Tucker, Hanna Park, Taylor Romine and Kit Maher contributed to this report.