Dover: US President Joe Biden paid tributes to US service members killed in Kabul bombing attack at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday. Joe Biden hand over his heart to pay tributes as the remains of the remains of the US service members killed in the Kabul bombing attack were transferred from a military C – 17 cargo plane to a closely parked row of gray hearses.

The moving ritual played out on the tarmac of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, with Biden and his wife Jill standing somberly to the side as specially trained white gloved military crews, stepping softly and in perfect unison, transferred the remains in special metal cases to the waiting hearses.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other military officers and dignitaries were part of a small group joining Biden, all in black masks. The family members of the bereaved stood at a distance, protected from the glare of cameras. The Dover base, on the US East Coast about two hours from Washington, is synonymous with the painful return of service members who have fallen in combat.