5 Marines are killed in California Osprey crash

Five Camp Pendleton Marines were killed Wednesday when their MV-22B Osprey crashed during a training mission near Glamis in Imperial County, the Marines said in a statement Thursday.

“We mourn the loss of our Marines in this tragic mishap,” said Maj. Gen. Bradford Gering, the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, in a statement. “Our hearts go out to their families and friends as they cope with this tragedy.”

The Marine Corps is withholding the names of those killed until 24 hours after next- of-kin notification, the statement said, citing Pentagon policy.

The Marines are recovering the aircraft’s wreckage, and an investigation is underway, the statement said.

“While military service is inherently dangerous, the loss of life is always difficult,” said 1st Lt. Duane Kampa, a 3rd MAW spokesperson. “3rd Marine Aircraft Wing is committed to providing support to the families, friends, and fellow service members of the fallen Marines.”

Although the Marines had not yet named those killed as of Thursday evening, family of one Marine began posting remembrances on Facebook. The Rockford Register Star newspaper identified one as 21-year- old Lance Cpl. Nathan Carlson, the crew chief of the Osprey.

Keith Mcdonald, a Winnebago County, Ill., county board member and uncle to Carlson, told the newspaper Carlson wanted to be a Marine since he was a child, and went to boot camp just nine days after graduating high school.

“We lost a tried and true local hero,” Mcdonald told the Register Star.

Results of previous military crash investigations have taken months to be released. The Marine Corps Osprey, a tiltrotor aircraft used to transport troops and equipment, crashed at

12:25 p.m. Wednesday.