World News | Bodies of Marines Killed in NATO Exercise Returned to US

Dover, Mar 27 (AP) The bodies of four Marines who died in a military aircraft crash during a NATO exercise were transferred back to the US on Friday.

The US Marine Corps said an Osprey aircraft crashed on March 18 in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, killing the four Marines.

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Officials with the Marines said on Saturday that hundreds of US Marines, sailors, service members and civilians rendered final salutes to the fallen Marines in Bodø, Norway, early Friday.

The bodies of the Marines were then placed on board an Air National Guard military transport aircraft and flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Marine Corps officials said.

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The remains of the Marines will ultimately be moved to their final resting places according to their families' wishes, officials said in a statement.

The crash killed Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

The men were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina.

They were taking part in a long-planned NATO exercise called Cold Response, which authorities said was unrelated to Russia's war in Ukraine. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)