Bodies of four Marines killed in NATO exercise are returned to the US
DOVER, Del. – The bodies of four Marines who died in a military aircraft crash during a NATO exercise were transferred back to the U.S. on Friday.
The U.S. Marine Corps said an Osprey aircraft crashed on March 18 in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, killing the four Marines. Officials with the Marines said Saturday that hundreds of U.S. Marines, sailors, service members and civilians rendered final salutes to the fallen Marines in Bodø, Norway, early Friday.
The bodies of the Marines were then placed on board an Air National Guard military transport aircraft and flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Marine Corps officials said. The remains of the Marines will be moved to their final resting places according to their families’ wishes, officials said in a statement.
The crash killed Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.
The men were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina. They were taking part in a longplanned NATO exercise called Cold Response, which authorities said was unrelated to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The aircraft was an MV-22B Osprey and was on its way north to Bodoe, Norway, where it was scheduled to land just before 6 p.m. March 18. The Osprey crashed in Graetaedalen in Beiarn, south of Bodoe.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area.
The Cold Response drill included about 30,000 troops, 220 aircraft and 50 vessels from 27 countries. NonNATO members Finland and Sweden also participated.