President Joe Biden and his wife honors troops killed in Afghanistan as remains arrive in U.S. (Photos)

President Biden met in solemn privacy yesterday with the families of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the suicide attack near the Kabul airport and became the fourth commander in chief to bear witness as the remains of the fallen returned to U.S. soil from Afghanistan.

First lady Jill Biden joined the president at Dover Air Force Base to grieve with loved ones as the “dignified transfer” of remains unfolded, a military ritual for those killed in foreign combat.

President Joe Biden watches as a carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Mo., during a casualty return Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Schmitz a died in an attack at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport, along with 12 other U.S. service members. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The dead ranged in age from 20 to 31, and came from California and Massachusetts and states in between. They include a 20-year-old Marine from Wyoming who had been expecting his first child in three weeks and a 22-year-old Navy corpsman who in his last FaceTime conversation with his mother assured her that he would stay safe because “my guys got me.”

President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin look on during a transfer of remains at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, for the 13 members of the U.S. military who were killed in a bombing last week in Afghanistan. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Five were just 20, born not long before the attacks of September 11, 2001, that spurred the U.S. to invade Afghanistan in order to topple al Qaeda and dismantle their Taliban hosts who ruled the country.