Donald Trump was slammed for missing the dignified transfer for four U.S. soldiers who were killed in Lithuania during a training accident as the president, who was forced to abort his helicopter after a wheel malfunction that same day, was seen playing golf at his Trump National Doral Miami golf course for a LIV Golf event.
Lithuania's president held a ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers who fatally 'drowned' after their tank disappeared on a training mission about a week ago. Lithuanian, Polish and U.S. soldiers and rescue teams searched through forests and swamps at the Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, which is about 6 miles west of the country's border with Belarus.
The M88 Hercules armored vehicle was finally pulled out of the bog on Monday, with the final body recovered on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Baltic country's leaders — both political and religious — joined thousands of people to bid farewell to the four American soldiers who died during the training exercise.
President Gitanas Nausėda and other dignitaries were among those who stood in respect as the hearses carrying the bodies to Vilnius airport in the nation's capital paraded past. They were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and will be buried this week.
Several of the onlookers were reportedly in tears during the procession. Nausėda said the reaction of the population and the military to the disappearance of the soldiers was rooted in the country's own difficult history.
"For us, it is more than a duty — it is an emotion. We have experienced trials in our history, and therefore, we understand well what loss is, what death is, what honorable duty is," he said in a speech to those who had gathered — a crowd that included teachers and schoolchildren waving Lithuanian and U.S. flags in honor of the fallen soldiers, who died in a region plagued by fear of Russian aggression due to its proximity to Ukraine.
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U.S. President Trump, however, was not there to welcome back the soldiers when they landed at Dover Air Force Base — instead, he was at a LIV Golf event at his Florida golf course.
Social media users were fuming about the scheduling choice and slammed Trump for neglecting the soldiers and failing to attend an event that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, would have been at. To make matters worse, Trump originally claimed a week ago that he knew nothing about the soldiers being missing, telling reporters that he hadn't been briefed.
"A man’s gotta have a code. Trump’s code is that the Saudis are paying him millions to host the golf tournament, so that’s where he is," Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch.com and a vocal anti-Trump advocate, wrote on X, attaching a picture of the entry in NBC News' live blog describing Trump's decision.
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"Imagine a foreign country honoring four dead American soldiers — unlike Trump who says he doesn’t know anything about it … loser POTUS," another user, @BernardMalmamud, commented under a video from a Lithuanian politician showing the country's support for the soldiers.
"Four of our dead Soldiers will be flying in to Dover this weekend. But you gotta golf," @AaronPe78166320 commented on a tweet Trump shared to his personal account featuring a political advertisement video of him signing the executive order implementing tariffs on a slew of nations around the world — which impact Lithuania, as it's a member of the European Union, onto which Trump slapped "reciprocal" 20% tariffs.
The dead soldiers were part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and were on a tactical mission related to NATO operations in the region when they perished.
The U.S. Army identified them as Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan; Staff Sgt. Jose Duenez Jr., 25, of Joliet, Illinois; Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, of Glendale, California; and Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, of Dededo, Guam.
They were among 3,500 soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team deployed in January to Poland and other Baltic states for a nine-month rotation as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which supports NATO allies and partners following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
