When the two military planes land at the Eindhoven airport, The Netherlands will come to a standstill.
King Willem Alexander, Queen Maxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be waiting at the airport along with relatives of the 193 Dutch residents who died after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine.
Almost a week after the tragedy and after a protracted international scramble to remove bodies and evidence from a war-zone in Ukraine, there will be some closure today.
DutchNews.nl reports that for the first time since the death of Queen Wilhelmina in 1962, the country has declared a day of mourning.
"Flags will be at half mast on government buildings and church bells will be rung for five minutes prior to the landing of the first plane bringing back the first bodies of the dead," the website reports.
Bloomberg reports that once the planes lands, the country will observe one minute of silence.
After that, begins the grim task of identifying the remains, which Prime Minister Rutte said "may take months."
The plane is scheduled to land at 10 a.m. ET. We'll update this post once that has happened.
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