Posted on 02/20/2006 9:50:05 AM PST by 4everontheRight
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Ten U.S. service members died when a pair of Marine Corps helicopters from a unit based in North Carolina crashed off the coast of Africa, U.S. military officials confirmed Sunday. The two CH-53E choppers, carrying a dozen crew and troops from a U.S. counterterrorism force, went down during a training flight Friday in the Gulf of Aden
The Pentagon said the Marines killed in the crash were:
• 1st Lt. Brandon R. Dronet, 33, of Erath, La. Sgt. James F. Fordyce, 22, of Newtown Square, Pa.
• Lance Cpl. Samuel W. Large, Jr., 21, of Villa Rica, Ga.
• Sgt. Donnie Leo F. Levens, 25, of Long Beach, Miss.
• Cpl. Matthieu Marcellus, 31, of Gainesville, Fla.
• Sgt. Jonathan E. McColley, 23, of Gettysburg, Pa.
• Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Sovie, 20, of Ogdensburg, N.Y.
• Capt. Bryan D. Willard, 33, of Hummelstown, Pa.
Also killed in the crash were Senior Airman Alecia S. Good, 23, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, of the 92nd Communications Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.; and Staff Sgt. Luis M. Melendez Sanchez, 33, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, of the 1st Communications Squadron, Langley Air Force Base, Va.
Margaret Levens, of Long Beach, Miss., said she was proud that her son, Donnie Levens, had a chance to do what he loved.
"He was there to serve his country and to keep his family and country safe," Margaret Levens said. "It was what he wanted to do. He was there for us ... in fact he had reenlisted for four (more) years."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
She sounds like she supported him 100% and he loved what he did.
I plan on sending my condolences through the local paper once the obit is posted online. I hope the family has some peace in knowing how much his work was appreciated by all the rest of us! I plan on doing my best to tell them so...they are only words though.
I thought I had heard a report over the weekend, maybe Saturday, that ten had been found alive. Obviously not true. Sad, sad story and my prayers for the families and friends.
Rest in peace, brave Devil Dogs and airmen. Your debt to our country can never be repaid. May God comfort your loved ones.
It never gets less painful to hear of these things. May the Lord in His infinite wisdom somehow provide comfort to all their loved ones left behind only with memories of them.
God Bless their brave souls, and their families, left behind.
what is the reason for the crashes?
Prayers for the troops and their loved ones. May they now know the peace that they earned for all of us.
When two crash at the same time, there's a highly likely cause:
Mid-air collision.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead,
We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country.
Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence,
That the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected;
Through Jesus Christ thy son our Lord.
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