UPDATE: Marine officials released a correction on Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan's hometown on May 22.
Corps officials have identified the second Marine to die as a result of Sunday's MV-22B Osprey crash as Lance Cpl. Matthew J. Determan of Ahwatukee Maricopa, Arizona.
Determan, a 21-year-old infantry rifleman assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, died Tuesday as a result of injuries sustained when the Osprey he was aboard crashed at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows two days prior, according to a news release. He was based at Camp Pendleton, California, and was deployed with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Col. Vance Cryer, the MEU's commanding officer, said Determan represents the nation's best.
"Our country and our Corps are poorer for his loss, but his example will continue to inspire us," he said in the release.
Determan is the second lance corporal to die as a result of the accident. Lance Cpl. Joshua Barron, 24, a tiltrotor crew chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 (Reinforced), died from his injuries on Sunday.
As of Wednesday, two other Marines remain hospitalized but were in stable condition.
There were 22 Marines aboard the Osprey when it made a hard landing at the training area Sunday. A fire had broken out aboard the aircraft, but it's not immediately clear whether it contributed to the hard landing or happened as a result of it. The fire contributed to some of the Marines' injuries, officials said.
The MEU was conducting training Sunday near Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The unit left California on May 11 for a seven month deployment to the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.
Cryer thanked a host of commands and civilians in the local communities for their outpouring of support following the fatal accident, including the medical staffs at Tripler Army Medical Center, the Queen's Medical Center and Castle Medical Center for their immediate response and the compassion they showed in caring for the Marines involved.
"I would like to thank all of those individuals who selflessly and without regard to their own safety, responded on-scene at Sunday's mishap," Cryer said, according to the release. "You have the undying gratitude of everyone in the 15th MEU for your heroic efforts."
