Fact Check: Did families of killed US soldiers tell Hegseth to ‘finish the job’?

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Thursday (Mar 19) said that families of service members killed in Iran told him to “finish the job”. Addressing a press conference a day after meeting the families of six US troops, Hegseth vowed to “honour their sacrifice”. However, the father of one of the slain soldiers has denied speaking to the Pentagon chief regarding the matter.

“I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,” Charles Simmons, father of Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons told NBC News in an interview on Thursday. His 28-year-old son was among the six crew members who lost their lives when their refuelling plane crashed in Iraq last week.

What did Hegseth claim?

Speaking in a morning press briefing after meeting the families at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Hegseth said, “What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve was the same from family after family. They said, ‘Finish this. Honour their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done.’”

What did Simmons say?

Simmons, a 60-year-old music teacher in Columbus, Ohio, recalled his interaction with Hegseth and US President Donald Trump, saying that he was grateful for the warmth that both men showed him. He added that he mostly spoke about his son, Tyler, his impressive service record and how he had advanced in the military with Hegseth.

“I understand there’s a lot of peril that goes into making decisions like this, and I just certainly hope the decisions being made are necessary,” he had told Hegseth.

When asked whether he said anything to Hegseth or Trump about the need to keep fighting the war, Simmons denied. “No, I didn’t say anything along those lines,” he said. He added that he had “questions” about the war and isn’t able to draw “definitive conclusions when I don’t have all the data.”

“Who wants war?” he said. “Sometimes it’s a necessity, and I just don’t know what’s going on.”

Speaking about when he met Trump and Hegseth, Simmons said, “I was pleasantly surprised because the perception is they [Trump and Hegseth] don’t care, they’re going to do what they want to do,” he said. “I got to see a different side of them up close and personal.”

Recalling what his son had told him before volunteering for the operation in Iran, Simmons said, “He said, ‘Dad, I can’t give you any details, but if civilians knew what we knew, a lot of the criticism [of the war] would cease.”
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