The military said the bodies of seven Marines and one Navy sailor have been recovered after being presumed dead a week after an accident involving an amphibious assault vehicle during training near San Clemente Island, California. The military made the announcement Friday.
“Our hearts and thoughts of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit are with the families of our recovered Marines and Sailor,” Col. Christopher Bronzi, commanding officer of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in a statement. “We hope the successful recovery of our fallen warriors brings some measure of comfort.”
In total, nine service members died in the July 30 accident.
On Monday, the U.S. Marine Corps has released the names of those who died or are presumed to have died.
Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas, was pronounced dead at the scene before being transported by helicopter to Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego. He was a rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/4, 15th MEU.
The presumed dead identified by officials are:
Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 19, of Corona, California, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
Lance Cpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello, California, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
U.S. Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, California, a hospital corpsman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend, Oregon, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
Cpl. Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Texas, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 19, of Portland, Oregon, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, California, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.
NBC 7 spoke with Villanueva’s family. His mom said he was a kind, respectable person who was outgoing.
“He was calm and outgoing. He wanted to enter the Marines because he wanted to serve his country,” Maria Villanueva said.
The eight U.S. service members went missing after their landing craft went down in hundreds of feet of water off the Southern California coast following an accident. They are presumed dead, officials said early Sunday.
The rescue operation for the seven Marines and one sailor was called off and now is a recovery mission, officials said.
David Berger, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, expressed sadness about the “difficult decision” to end the operations.
Helicopters and boats ranging from inflatables to a Navy destroyer searched a roughly 200-square-mile area for the Marines and Navy corpsman.
Sixteen U.S. service members were aboard the amphibious assault vehicle that had just completed a training exercise when it began taking on water about a half-mile from Navy-owned San Clemente Island, off San Diego.
The 26-ton, tank-like craft quickly sank in hundreds of feet of water — too deep for divers — making it difficult to reach.
All of the Marines aboard were attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at nearby Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. They ranged in age from 19 to early 30s and all were wearing combat gear, including body armor and flotation vests, Lt. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said earlier this week.
The craft was one of 13 amphibious assault vehicles that participated in the routine exercise and was heading back to a Navy ship when the accident happened.
Troops on board two other amphibious assault vehicles responded quickly but couldn’t stop the sinking, Osterman said.
The vehicle, nicknamed an “amtrac” -- short for “amphibious tractor” -- was designed to be buoyant and had three water-tight hatches and two large troop hatches. The Marines use the vehicles to transport troops and their equipment from Navy ships to land.
The vehicles have been used since 1972 and are continually refurbished.
On Friday, Berger suspended waterborne operations of all of its more than 800 amphibious assault vehicles across the branch until the cause of the accident is determined. He said the move was out of “an abundance of caution.”
It was the deadliest of several accidents involving amtracs that have occurred during Camp Pendleton exercises in recent years.
In 2017, 14 Marines and one Navy sailor were hospitalized after their vehicle hit a natural gas line at the camp, igniting a fire that engulfed the landing craft.
In 2011, a Marine died when an amphibious assault vehicle in a training exercise sank offshore of the camp.
Two Marines who were rescued were injured, with one hospitalized in critical condition and the other in stable condition, a Marine Corps statement said Friday.
One Marine was taken to a hospital in La Jolla and later died, the Los Angeles Times reported. Five other service members were rescued, according to the newspaper.
Military ships, small boats and helicopters searched choppy seas Friday for the missing amid moderate to strong winds. The Navy-owned island is about 70 miles offshore from San Diego.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident. I ask that you keep our Marines, Sailors, and their families in your prayers as we continue our search,” Col. Christopher Bronzi, the unit’s commanding officer, said in a statement from the Marine Corps.
The amphibious assault vehicle began taking on water about 5:45 p.m. Thursday during routine training near San Clemente Island, according to NBC7 assignment editor Bill Feather.
The Marine Expeditionary Force is the Marine Corps’ main warfighting organization. There are three such groups which are made up of ground, air and logistics forces.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
