On Sunday, President Joe Biden headed to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to oversee the "dignified transfer" of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in the attacks on the Kabul airport in Afghanistan on Thursday last week.
The ceremony on Sunday was the first time that President Biden traveled to the Dover Air Force Base as Commander in Chief to bear witness to the homecoming of the fallen U.S. service members. According to NPR, the Democratic president was joined by First Lady Jill Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
Among those who perished were 31 year old Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover from Utah, 25 year old Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo of Massachusetts, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee from California, Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page of Nebraska, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss of Tennessee, who were all just 23 years of age, Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez of Indiana and Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak of Ohio, both 22.
Twenty year olds Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza of Texas, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, of Missouri, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola and Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, both from California, also perished.
All of their transfers were allowed by families to be covered by the media. However, the transfers of 22 year old Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez of California and 20 year old Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum of Wyoming were not covered by the media.
A distraught Kathy McCollum, mother to the 20 year old U.S. marine who passed away during the attacks, spoke to SiriusXM's Andrew Wilkow on the "The Wilkow Majority," blaming the Biden administration for her son's death.
According to the New York Post, McCollum's angry mother said in referring to President Biden, "Twenty years and six-months-old, getting ready to go home from freaking Jordan to be home with his wife to watch the birth of his son, and that feckless, dementia-ridden piece of cr*p just sent my son to die."
"I woke up at 4 o'clock this morning. Two Marines at my door telling me that my son was dead," the grieving mother lamented. "I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, you just killed my son."
She then continued bashing Biden in her tirade, calling him "a dementia-ridden piece of cr*p who doesn't even know he's in the White House, who still thinks he's a senator."
"He was going to be a great dad"
According to Rylee's sister Cheyenne, her U.S. marine brother was set to come home just in time for the birth of his child, The Blaze reported. The grieving sister recounted how the U.S. marine was "so excited to be a dad, and he was going to be a great dad." Rylee's wife is expecting to give birth in three weeks.
"We want to make sure that people know that these are the kids that are sacrificing themselves, and he's got a family who loves him and a wife who loves him and a baby that he'll never get to meet," McCollum's sister said as per the Associated Press.
As for Rylee's mom Kathy McCollum, Cheyenne revealed a major family issue that she felt needed to be made public amid the tragic event. She told Rep. Lauren Boebert in a Facebook post that Kathy "was no mother to Rylee," that she went by the name "Kathy Plummer" prior to the brave soldier's death, and that she only used the family name "when it benefited (sic) her." She also revealed that they were raised by a single parent who did a "fine job" in doing it.
Cheyenne, however, indicated that because of his being a "gold hearted human," Rylee reached out to Kathy to "make amends" with her "before he [was] deployed."
It appears that people did not forget McCollum's sacrifice, as donations for his widow and unborn child have risen to almost $500,000.
