The four Marines who were killed last week when their helicopter crashed in Norway during a joint training exercise with NATO allies have been identified.
The four, all members of Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, were Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Mass.; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Ky.
“The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves,” Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing wrote in a letter to their families on Sunday.
“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 are being sent back to the U.S. and their families.
The MV-22 Osprey helicopter crashed Friday during a training exercise in extreme conditions in Graetaedalen in Beiarn, south of Bodoe, according to officials. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
The exercise, dubbed Cold Response 2022, saw 30,000 troops from Europe and North America “train together in cold weather conditions over challenging terrain,” according to NATO. In the fictional scenario, Norway is attacked from the “High North” and NATO’s collective defense clause is invoked.
Despite the timing of the event, which coincides with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO officials insisted that the scenario had been “long-planned.”
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