A special detail of soldiers was recalled from holiday leave to meet the bodies at Dover, Delaware, and perform military honors, and each body was escorted home by a member of the U.S. military. On December 16, 1985, President Ronald Reagan came to Fort Campbell to comfort the families and a grieving nation. In the years since, soldiers and family regularly remember the loss of the Gander fallen. Reagan said those mourned were not only warriors but peacemakers who were there to protect life and preserve peace, acting as a force for stability, hope, and trust, and he told the bereaved that they did not grieve alone because the nation grieved with them as it said goodbye to those who died in the service of their country.