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Bodies of 7 Americans killed in Afghanistan arrive in U.S.

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware (CNN) -- The remains of seven U.S. service members killed in fighting in Afghanistan arrived early Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, a U.S. military official said.

The bodies returned home at 2:06 a.m. EST from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Maj. Jon Anderson said. The remains will be prepared at Dover for return to the servicemen's families.

Eight U.S. servicemen have died in Operation Anaconda, the largest and fiercest ground operation against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters since the beginning of the Afghan campaign in the fall.

The remains of the eighth serviceman, who died Saturday, had been transferred to Ramstein over the weekend.

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A multiservice honor guard somberly greeted Tuesday's arrival of the seven caskets at Ramstein.

The seven died Monday in two separate helicopter incidents involving MH-47 Chinook aircraft, according to Brig. Gen. John Rosa at the Pentagon.

The dead servicemen were identified as Army Spc. Marc A. Anderson, 30, of Brandon, Florida; Army Pfc. Matthew A. Commons, 21, of Boulder City, Nevada; Army Sgt. Bradley S. Crose, 27, of Orange Park, Florida; Army Sgt. Philip J. Svitak, 31, of Joplin, Missouri; Air Force Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, 36, of Waco, Texas; Air Force Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, 26, of Camarillo, California; and Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts, 32, of Woodland, California.

Eleven more servicemen were injured, according to Assistant Secretary of Defense Victoria Clarke.

Anderson, Commons and Crose served with the 1st Battalion of the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment based at Hunter Army Air Field in Savannah, Georgia, and Svitak was with the 2nd Battalion of the 160th Special Ops Aviation Regiment based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, according to Carol Darby, media chief with the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman, 34, of Wade, North Carolina, from the Army's elite Special Forces, was killed in fighting Saturday. More than 40 U.S. military personnel have been wounded, the Pentagon's Rosa said, but 18 of them have returned to duty.

Military officials in Germany said 15 wounded personnel were at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, and some or all of them could be transferred to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany