Despite the restricted access of media at the request of the families of the fallen U.S. soldiers, the Trump administration released images from Wednesday’s (March 18) dignified transfer ceremony at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
President Donald Trump traveled to the Dover Air Force Base to pay his tribute to the six U.S. service members who lost their lives on March 12, when a refueling tanker crashed in western Iraq. Their demise brought the total number of American troop deaths in the Iran war to at least 13.
The six service members who lost their lives have been identified as Maj. John Klinner, 33; Capt. Ariana Savino, 31; Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34; Capt. Seth Koval, 38; Capt. Curtis Angst, 30; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28.
Meanwhile, during the ceremony, Fox News’ John Roberts reported that the families of the troops asked for the transfer to remain private. Therefore, while reporters were present at the location, they were banned from clicking pictures of Trump welcoming the fallen service members.
FOX: We should point out that at the request of the families, the dignified transfer is going to remain private. There will not be any cameras. pic.twitter.com/y0ivcJuPp6
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2026
However, despite the restrictions, the White House later released several official photos from the ceremony. These images showed Trump standing and saluting as flag-draped transfer cases were carried past him.
Other pictures released by the White House also showed U.S. troops carefully moving the cases of the fallen soldiers into a transport vehicle, with Trump visible in the background. The images were shared across official White House social media platforms.
Besides X and Instagram, the images also made their way into a video on White House’s TikTok page, set to the song Amazing Grace. Further, the White House also uploaded a larger set of photos to its official Flickr account.
President Donald J. Trump attends the dignified transfer of six American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in a refueling plane crash while serving our nation. 🇺🇸🙏
May God bless them and their families.
In Honor of:
Maj. John A. Klinner
Capt. Ariana G. Savino
Tech.… pic.twitter.com/AKLqFpnXYC
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 18, 2026
The release of these images comes at a time when Trump has been defending his actions related to the ongoing conflict with Iran. His administration has described the situation as necessary for national security, although lawmakers and netizens argue otherwise.
In addition to this controversial move, Trump doubled down by using the images of himself from the dignified transfer for fundraising emails. One such email promoted a private newsletter group receiving “national security briefings.” Further, the email linked to a website by Never Surrender Inc. sought $1000 and more for the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda.
“This is President Donald J. Trump. For the very first time ever, I’m opening up spots on the National Security Briefing Membership. Very few spots remaining!” the email read.
Meanwhile, as the debate continues, Trump was asked about the fundraiser email, and whether he thought it was “an appropriate email to send”. To this, the president responded, “Yeah, I do. I didn’t see it. I mean, somebody puts it up. We have a lot of people working for us.”
