SAN DIEGO– Three U.S. Marines eliminated in the weekend crash of an Osprey airplane in Australia were determined Monday.
They were Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, of Arlington, Virginia; Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, of Belleville, Illinois; and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, of Jefferson, Colorado, their system, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, stated in a declaration.
Collart was the Osprey squadron’s team chief, LeBeau was its pilot, and Lewis was its executive officer, the force stated. All, based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Oahu, were embellished Marines who had actually been granted the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, it stated.
” We are deeply saddened by the loss of 3 appreciated and precious members of the MRF-D household,” Col. Brendan Sullivan, commanding officer of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, stated in the declaration.
The force stated 3 other Marines hurt in the crash on Melville Island Sunday stayed under the care of Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, approximately 60 miles south of the crash website.
One of the 3 was referred to as remaining in crucial condition; the 2 others were supported and recuperating, the Darwin system stated. Seventeen Marines hurt in the crash have actually been launched from the Darwin health center.
The Osprey, with 23 Marines on board, crashed “while moving soldiers throughout a regular training workout,” the Marine Corps stated in a declaration Sunday.
President Joe Biden revealed grief for the loss Monday night on X, the platform previously called Twitter. “Jill and I send our inmost acknowledgements to the households of the Marines who lost their lives in this lethal crash. We are wishing those who likewise suffered injuries,” the post stated.
The 2,000- member Darwin force, led from and mainly drawn from Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, remains in its 12 th year of participating in workouts in Australia and making the U.S.’ existence understood in an area likewise affected by China.
Its Osprey squadron was taking part in Exercise Predators Run, a 12- day joint-training objective that consists of the U.S., Australia, the Philippines, East Timor and Indonesia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the weekend called the crash a “awful event.”
After an Osprey tiltrotor airplane crashed in 2015, eliminating 5 Marines in the California desert, the Navy put all airplane under its command, consisting of non-deployed Marine Corps airplane, on a momentary “security time out.”
Ospreys have actually suffered numerous crashes that have actually eliminated more than 50 individuals, according to the publication Task & & Purpose They can remove and land nearly vertically, like helicopters, while they can fly along horizontal lines, like aircrafts.
