The Most Surprising Pictures of 2010
Dover Air Force Base, USA
Photograph by Steve Ruark / AP
A Marine carry team carries a transfer case containing the remains of Cpl. Claudio Patino IV at Dover Air Force Base, Del, June 25, 2010. According to the Department of Defense, Patino, 22, of Yorba Linda, Calif., died June 22 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province.
In 2009, the Pentagon lifted a ban that forbade members of the news media from covering the dignified transfer of the remains of U.S. servicemen and women at Dover Air Force Base. On April 5th, 2009 right after the ban was lifted, around 40 reporters and photographers were present for the return of the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Virginia.
But these days, Photographer Steve Ruark a freelance photographer with the Associated Press is often the only member of the news media present. He has been to Dover for dignified transfers more than ninety times.