During a military training exercise last month in Lithuania, four U.S. Army soldiers were unfortunately killed in a tragic accident, and their bodies were returned to the U.S. on Friday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was present for the ceremonial dignified transfer of the deceased at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as the top official representing the administration, Newsmax reported.

Hegseth was sent by the White House in place of President Donald Trump, who was unable to attend the ceremony because of a scheduling conflict, which quite predictably elicited terrible accusations against the president from some of his harshest critics.

Hegseth sent instead of Trump

Late last month, four U.S. Army soldiers with the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, were killed during a joint training exercise in Lithuania when their armored vehicle sank in a marshy bog, with it taking nearly a week for the vehicle and all four bodies to be recovered.

The remains of the four soldiers departed Lithuania on Thursday for the U.S. in a solemn ceremony that was attended by that NATO nation's president and other high-ranking officials, and those remains arrived at Dover in Delaware on Friday, where they were received by Sec. Hegseth, according to The Hill.

Hegseth was dispatched to the dignified transfer ceremony by the White House in place of President Trump, who was instead at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for a previously scheduled dinner and fundraiser event.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed, "The Secretary of Defense will represent the Administration at the dignified transfer for the four brave U.S. service members who tragically died during a training exercise in Lithuania."

The White House further noted that, per requests for privacy from the families of the fallen, no media would be present at the ceremony as well as that administration officials were still working to establish correspondence with all of the families.

Trump sharply criticized over absence from ceremony

Of course, as with virtually every other move made or not made by President Trump, Newsweek reported that some of his outspoken haters were quick to pounce upon his absence from the dignified transfer ceremony as supposed evidence that he doesn't actually care about the lives and safety of U.S. military troops.

To be sure, presidents are not required to attend those solemn ceremonies, though some occasionally do, but that inconvenient fact was largely ignored by the anti-Trump critics.

They instead accused Trump of abandoning the fallen soldiers and their families to instead go golfing, and that he actually hates the troops and views them as little more than props, among other choice critiques.

Hegseth previously offered condolences for fallen troops

As for Sec. Hegseth, he has been vocal from the start in offering up public condolences and grief over the loss of the four U.S. soldiers during the training exercise in Lithuania last month.

In an X post on Tuesday, Hegseth wrote, "Today, I was informed that the remains of the fourth and final missing U.S. Army Soldier from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division were recovered in Lithuania. I want to personally extend my deepest condolences to the families of all four fallen Soldiers. Our hearts are heavy across the Department of Defense."

"We are deeply grateful to our brave servicemembers who enabled this difficult recovery and to our Lithuanian hosts who labored alongside them. The recovery was conducted with urgency, resolve and deep respect for the fallen," the secretary added. "We will never forget these soldiers -- and our prayers are with their families."