The bodies of three young American civilians who never joined the U.S. military but died fighting the Islamic State in Syria were returned home on Friday.
The caskets of Levi Shirley, 24, Jordan MacTaggart, 22, and William Savage, 27, arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago without ceremony. Shirley and MacTaggart were then transported to Denver, Colorado, while Savage arrived Friday in North Carolina, where his father lives, the Associated Press reported.
The three men died in separate combat incidents after joining the Kurdish People’s Protection Units to fight ISIS, according to the AP. While they will not receive a military burial, the men will each be honored with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol.
"Though they did not fight as members of our armed forces, they are Americans and as Americans we have a responsibility to bring these young men home and to give the families relief and closure," Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D., Colo.), who presented flags to two of the men’s families, said in a statement.
Kurdish forces judged it would be too dangerous to transfer the bodies through Turkey given heightened tensions between Ankara and Washington, D.C. following July’s failed coup. The men’s bodies were instead transported through Iraq and Jordan before landing in Chicago.