The families of U.S. servicemembers killed in Donald Trump’s war against Iran have gone public with tributes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth raged about coverage of their deaths making “the president look bad.”
Sgt. Declan Coady, of Iowa, was the youngest of the six soldiers killed at just 20 years old, and his sister, Kiera, tearfully told reporters he was just two months shy of turning 21.
“It’s hard to say anything because those that don’t know him will just know him as another person that died in combat and their lives will go on,” she said, adding that it still didn’t feel “real.”
“I just remember all of our conversations about what he was going to do when he came back,” she said, calling the night when the family learned of his death “one of the worst nights of our lives.”
Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, of Minnesota, was killed just days before she was due to return to her husband and two children. “She was almost home,” her husband Joey Amor told the Associated Press. “It hurts.”
Relatives described Capt. Cody Khork, of Florida, in a statement to the Los Angeles Times as “the life of the party, known for his infectious spirit, generous heart, and deep care for those who served alongside him and for everyone blessed to know him.”
Their comments stood in stark contrast to remarks made by Hegseth on Wednesday, when he referred to the deaths only as “tragic things” and framed them making “front page news” as an attempt to “make the president look bad.”
The families of the other three servicemembers killed, Sgt. First Class Noah Tietjens, Major Jeffrey O’Brien, and Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, have not issued statements, asking for privacy as they grieve.
They came from Minnesota, Iowa, Florida, Nebraska, and California. Authorities in Nebraska, California, and Iowa have so far ordered flags be flown at half-staff to honor the dead troops. No such order has come from President Donald Trump, who almost immediately ordered flags be lowered to honor far-right activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his murder last September.
Trump has acknowledged there are likely to be more American troops killed in his conflict in Iran, which has plunged the Middle East into chaos, spread to Europe and south Asia, and sent shockwaves rippling across the global economy.
“That’s the way it is,” he said of the expected casualties.
He has given four different justifications for the war, with the most recent that the U.S. attacked the Islamic regime to defend American assets in the region from retaliation in the event Iran came under attack.
Trump and his officials have also said the war could last four weeks, or two months, or “forever.” They have told U.S. citizens presently in the Middle East to leave by commercial flights, which remain grounded by ongoing U.S. operations across the region.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment on this story.
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