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Four Marines killed during NATO training op identified
The four Marines belonged to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing based out of Marine Corps Air Station, New River, North Carolina. At the time of the crash, they were conducting a joint NATO training exercise.
The US Marine Corps has confirmed and released the identities of the four Marines killed in a helicopter crash in Norway this last Friday.
(Clockwise) Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24 (top left); Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30; Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27; Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27.
The four Marines belonged to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing based out of Marine Corps Air Station, New River, North Carolina. At the time of the crash, they were conducting a joint NATO training exercise.
According to the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center, the downed helicopter “was reported missing at 6:26 p.m. local time Friday while heading toward the town of Bodø, located north of the Arctic Circle.” A rescue helicopter spotted the downed MV-22B Osprey in Beiarn, Nordland. Police chief of staff for the municipality told reporters that the helicopter sustained “major damage”.
The training that the Marines were conducting was part of Exercise Cold Response 2022. According to NATO, the annual training is “a long-planned exercise bringing together thousands of troops from NATO Allies and partners, testing their ability to work together in cold weather conditions across Norway — on land, in the air and at sea.”
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NATO also specified on their website that “this year’s exercise was announced over eight months ago. It is not linked to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, which NATO is responding to with preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory measures.”
Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing addressed the families of the deceased Marines in a letter:
“The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves… We will continue to execute the mission while keeping these Marines and their service on the forefront of our minds. We will never allow these Marines’ sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated.”
The bodies of the four Marines were recovered from the crash site in the Arctic Ocean on Sunday and are being returned to the US.
The Marine Corps is still investigating the cause of the crash.
