A torn piece of propeller mounted above a block of granite with the names of five Marines now rests on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.
Carved in the granite emblem of the Marine Corps, the Marine aviator and air crew wings and an image of the KC-130J aircraft that those five Marines flew on the last day of their lives, Dec. 6, 2018.
Members of their squadron, Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 raised money to have the stone placed and mark the loss of the men that day: Lt. Col. Kevin R. Herrmann, Maj. James Brophy, Staff Sgt. Maximo Alexander Flores, Cpl. Daniel E. Baker and Cpl. William C. Ross.
Those five Marines and Capt. Jahmar F. Resilard, pilot of the F/A-18 that collided with their plane during a refueling off the coast of Japan, all died following the incident. The F/A-18 weapons systems officer was the lone survivor of the crash.
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The propeller piece was recovered from the wreckage and painted with the words, “Dedicated to the Crew of Sumo 41 167981 06DEC2018." Squadron members donated money to pay for the memorial, members told Stars and Stripes.
It was important for the squadron to have a way to remember their fallen comrades, Lt. Col. Mitch Maury told Stripes.
“You never feel like you can do enough for the families or to properly put things into perspective to honor those who we lost,” he said. “If I try to put myself in the family’s shoes, I think my biggest fear would be people not remembering what great men they were, what selfless individuals, what they contributed. We needed something that would remind those coming into the squadron about who they were, what they gave.”
A subsequent investigation found that the F/A-18 pilot made a nonstandard maneuver the contributed the collision and also faulted an unprofessional command climate that resulted in complacency and a disregard for regulations, lack of supervision and lack of proficiency in night refueling operations.
The Marine Corps fired Lt. Col. James R. Compton, commander of VMFA-242, the F/A-18 crew’s unit from his position in April 2019 due to a “loss of trust and confidence.” The VMFA-242’s executive officer, operations officer and aviation safety officer were all also fired as a result.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
