Please post
this message in your site to let friends
know that our good buddy Jay
passed away during the chopper crash off San
Diego last December 1999.
We will never
forget you, Man ----DeGuzmanMJ@oki10.med
Remaining Bodies Found; Memorial Service Held
The remaining four bodies of seven servicemen lost at
sea when their helicopter crashed off the San Diego coast were recovered
Monday as their family and friends attended a memorial service.
Using an unmanned submarine and a deep-sea salvage robot, the Navy located two Marines and a Navy corpsman Saturday and recovered four other Marines this morning, Lt. David Romley said.
The men died when their twin-rotor CH-46E Sea Knight crashed 15 miles off the San Diego coast during training for a January deployment to the Persian Gulf.
The helicopter had taken off from the USS Bonhomme Richard and was approaching the Navy tanker Pecos when it apparently got hung on a metal safety net and was pulled into the water.
The 23,000-pound helicopter filled water and sank some 3,600 feet to the ocean floor. Eleven servicemen freed themselves and were rescued; the others went down with the helicopter.
A private memorial service was held Monday at Camp Pendleton, where the Marines were based. The Navy corpsman was based at nearby Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Those who died in the crash were:
The bodies will be returned to shore by
ship and taken to Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego for official
identification, Romley said.
The Marines haven't decided whether to raise the helicopter or to leave it on the ocean floor.
Go to Camp
Pendleton's website for more information