U.S. President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should apologize to the family of Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley, 23, who died from injuries he sustained on the floating pier in Gaza, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) stated on Monday.
“The only reason this ridiculous pier happened was so Biden and Harris could have a political talking point at the State of the Union to pander to the progressive left about Gaza,” Waltz wrote.
The inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development said that the White House was warned that weather conditions were “too rough, but the White House overrode the military and proceeded anyway. Shameful,” Waltz added. “This soldier’s death should never have happened. Biden and Harris owe his family an apology. The House should investigate.”
The U.S. military announced on Monday—the day before Election Day—that Stanley died on Oct. 31 from the injuries he sustained in a non-combat incident on May 23.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley, a recently retired motor transport operator previously assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.,” Capt. Shkeila Milford-Glover, a spokeswoman for the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, told JNS.
“Stanley was injured while supporting the mission that delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza in May 2024 and was receiving treatment in a long-term care medical center,” Milford-Glover added.
Col. John (“Eddie”) Gray, commander of the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary, told JNS in a statement that Stanley “was an instrumental and well respected first line leader” in the brigade, “especially during the mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.”
“We will continue to provide support to his family during this difficult time,” Gray added. “Our entire unit mourns alongside his family.”
Stanley was a motor transport operator in the U.S. Army from July 2020 until Oct. 25, 2024, when he retired, according to the Army.
“His awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Driver and Mechanic Badge,” the Army added.
It remains unclear how Stanley was injured, but officials have said that the incident took place out on a ship. Two other troops sustained minor injuries in the incident and immediately returned to duty.
“Yet another American hero sacrificed to the sanctimonious ignorance of the Biden-Harris administration,” wrote Victoria Coates, vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s national security and foreign policy institute and a former U.S. deputy national security advisor. “Rest in peace.”
“From Afghanistan to Jordan to Gaza, U.S. service members have paid with their lives for the incompetence, appeasement and virtue-signaling of the current administration,” wrote Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “What a complete disaster and disgrace.”
Biden announced the temporary Gaza aid pier on March 7 at his State of the Union address. The pier, which cost $230 million, was plagued with problems after becoming operational on May 7.
In the first week of operations, some 70% of the aid transported from the dock was stolen by unspecified Palestinian actors while en route to a United Nations warehouse.
Over the summer, a USAID internal watchdog noted that the agency tasked with coordinating the pier—also called the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore—had pushed back on the idea.
Problems during the mission, primarily caused by rough seas and bad weather, rendered the pier inoperable for large stretches of time, the USAID report noted. The JLOTS dock operated for only 20 days, before being closed on July 17. It brought in enough food for some 450,000 Palestinians, well short of the project’s stated goals.
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in June while securing the humanitarian-aid pier, an Israeli source deployed to Gaza told JNS in July. On June 15, IDF tanks based at a makeshift military outpost set up near the pier ran over a large bomb some quarter of a mile from the pier. Two soldiers were killed and two were wounded, per the military source.
“What led me to talk is really just the frustration towards the end of the last few weeks. It’s a very unsafe operation; anything could happen,” the source said at the time, adding that Washington “could have delivered the aid through any land port and finished within a week, but for whatever publicity reason, they built the pier.”
“Then they failed and tried to cover it up,” the source said. “When the pier broke the first time, it was a lot more dangerous than they made it sound. It sounded like they were on top of things, but Israel had to fix it all for them.”
“Everything they tried to accomplish, whether it was a defensive operation or daily operations, nothing went without a hitch,” the source added.
