Remains of servicemen to be transferred
Military officials are preparing to transfer the remains of seven U.S. Marines — including one from Montebello — and a Navy sailor to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware over the next few days to be prepared for burial.
The remains were recovered Friday after the servicemen went missing near San Clemente Island when their amphibious vehicle sank during a training mission on July 30.
Marine and Navy pallbearers will place the remains aboard an aircraft bound for Dover Air Force
Base, officials said. From Dover, the remains will be released to families in accordance with their wishes. The transfer will not be open to the public.
The U.S. military announced last week it had located the amphibious assault vehicle that sank off the coast of San Diego County, killing the young servicemen, and confirmed the presence of human remains where the vessel came to rest on the sea floor.
Seven members of the Camp Pendleton-based crew survived the accident. Medics took two of them to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where both were admitted in critical condition. One was later upgraded to stable.
Pronounced dead at the accident site was Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez of New Braunfels, Texas. Perez, 20, was a rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The other service members have been identified as:
Lance Cpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello, a rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 15th MEU;
Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU;
Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18, of Corona, Calif., a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU;
Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19, of Oak Creek, Wis., a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU;
Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, a Navy hospital corpsman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU;
Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend, Ore., a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU;
Cpl. Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Texas, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU;
Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 19, of Portland, Ore., a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.