RPT-Trump to attend ceremony to witness return of US personnel killed in Syria

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend a ceremony on Wednesday to honor U.S. personnel killed in Syria over the weekend by a suspected Islamic State attacker.

Trump and his wife will travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be present for what the Air Force calls the "dignified transfer" of the bodies from overseas back into the United States in the presence of their families. The ceremony is scheduled to take place at 1:15 p.m. EST (1815 GMT).

Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed on Saturday in the central Syrian town of Palmyra by an attacker who targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, according to the U.S. military.

Trump called the incident terrible, vowed retaliation and referred to the three that were slain as "great patriots."

Three U.S. soldiers were also wounded in the attack.

U.S. presidents, vice presidents and dignitaries regularly attend the solemn transfer ceremonies at Dover during times of war or conflict that result in the deaths of U.S. troops. Flag-draped transfer cases are brought off of a military plane with the bodies of the fallen and put with precision in an awaiting vehicle as officials and family members watch and often weep.