Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar dreamt of traveling with his family to Washington, D.C., when he returned from his deployment to Syria.
More than two months after he was killed in action there in December, the Iowa National Guard staff sergeant’s parents, Hugo Torres and Isabel Tovar, carried out their late son’s dream of visiting the nation’s capital as U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn’s State of the Union guests.
“Because of his passing, that also brought us to Washington, D.C.,” Tovar said through remarks translated by Torres in a phone call the evening of Feb. 24 before President Donald Trump’s address.
Family members of Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Staff Sgt. William Nathaniel “Nate” Howard, 29, of Marshalltown — the two Iowa National Guard soldiers killed in the Dec. 13 ambush by ISIS — joined members of Iowa’s congressional delegation as guests for the State of the Union address.
Three additional Iowa National Guard members were wounded in the attack, and a U.S. civilian interpreter also was killed.
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s guests are Howard’s mother and stepfather, Misty and Jeffrey Bunn. U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s guest is Howard’s widow Arianna Howard.
Torres-Tovar was deployed to Kosovo and Kuwait before being deployed to Syria, where he was part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS. He and Howard were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division.
Nunn, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, said he and Torres-Tovar’s parents took a reflective walk of the U.S. Capitol building and visited with Howard’s family during their trip Tuesday.
“Every step of the way, this couple has been just heartwarming parents caring for everyone else around them while taking on the biggest burden that I think any parent should have to face,” Nunn said.
He said Torres-Tovar was “part of this brave group of young men and women whose sacrifice affords all of us a level of safety at home.”
Nunn joined the rest of Iowa’s congressional delegation in introducing legislation to rename two Veterans Affairs facilities in honor of the late soldiers.
The legislation, once enacted, would rename the VA clinic in Des Moines as the “Staff Sergeant Edgar Torres-Tovar Clinic” and redesignate the community-based outpatient VA clinic in Marshalltown as the “Staff Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard VA clinic.”
Torres said the legislation “represents a lasting tribute” to his son and Howard. He said being invited to the place where the nation’s representatives do their work for the State of the Union “assures me that everybody else cares for service members.”
“The state of Iowa will remember their sacrifice and what they did for the nation,” Torres said.
Nunn said the clinic’s designation would serve as a reminder of the hundreds of Iowa National Guard troops who are actively deployed and the thousand of veterans who have served.
“I’m thrilled that our VA facilities will be emblazoned with their name, but behind those names are real boys who fought for our country, real sons who their family will miss and real guardsmen whose sacrifice is now on the front of a building that’s going to help take care of other veterans even after the events of this past December,” Nunn said.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Fallen Iowa National Guard soldiers’ families go to State of the Union
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
