(THE WASHINGTON TIMES) – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nearly missed Wednesday’s inaugural Christmas worship service at the Pentagon, though he had a good reason.

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Mr. Hegseth was at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the transfer of two Iowa Army National Guard troops and their interpreter, who were killed in Syria while combating the Islamic State.

Mr. Hegseth joined President Trump and other White House officials in saluting the flag-draped coffins as they were carried off the C-17 transport aircraft.

“What do you tell Americans who’ve lost the greatest gift they could possibly give? There are no words for the grief,” he said on his return to the Pentagon. “The president does a phenomenal job, but you just do the best that you can.”

The dead were identified as Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa; Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Grimes, Iowa, and their civilian interpreter, Ayad Sakat, of Michigan.

Mr. Hegseth said he was confident that the three men served their nation and were now in a better place.

“They put on the uniform and served on behalf of all of us. They also serve a bigger and greater God, and we know where they are,” he said. “We pray for them, and we think of them today.”

Mr. Hegseth stood on a stage at the Pentagon that featured two Christmas trees and a Menorah.

He instituted monthly voluntary worship services within the Pentagon soon after he took over the reins at the Department of Defense.

“Each day you are asked to do impossible things, work impossible hours with impossible odds, which mere men and women could not do,” he said during the outdoor Christmas service. “That’s why we ‘bend the knee,’ because we know where our strength comes from, and we need that wisdom and that guidance.”

The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham, gave an address at the Pentagon event, during which he asked for prayers for the nation.

“I pray that God will forgive the sins of our country when they think of all the things that we do and the mistakes that we make,” Mr. Graham said. “I pray that God will heal our land, and that America will once again return to the God of our Fathers.

He applauded Mr. Hegseth’s plans to overhaul the military’s chaplain corps by restoring its focus on religious ministry.

“I’m so grateful to them because this is the bedrock of our country,” Mr. Graham said. “There’s not a community … that doesn’t have a church [or] house of worship.”

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This article was originally published in The Washington Times.