Dignified Transfer

Dignified Transfer

A Dignified Transfer is the U.S. military's ceremonial reception of the remains of fallen U.S. military personnel from overseas. The best-known such transfers are at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware; soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (the "Old Guard") often participate.

In a dignified transfer, coffins ("cases) draped in American flags are carried off a military transport, one by one, by a team of personnel from the fallen member's own service. Each case is placed in a vehicle and then taken to a mortuary.

On August 9, 2011, President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, among other leaders, attended the dignified transfer ceremony for 38 U.S. and Afghan personnel killed aboard a helicopter shot down in Afghanistan three days earlier.

References

Articles on the August 9, 2011 Dover AFB ceremony: