Fourth US soldier found dead after training accident in Lithuania
WASHINGTON (AP) — The final U.S. soldier who went missing in Lithuania has been found dead, bringing to an end a massive weeklong search for the four service members whose armored vehicle was pulled from a swampy training area, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
The bodies of the three other soldiers were recovered Monday after U.S., Polish and Lithuanian armed forces and authorities dug the M88 Hercules vehicle out of a peat bog at the expansive Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in the town of Pabradė. Their identities have not been released as family notifications continue.
The soldiers, part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, were on a tactical training exercise when they and their vehicle were reported missing a week ago, the Army said.
'This past week has been devastating. Today our hearts bear the weight of an unbearable pain with the loss of our final Dogface Soldier,' Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, 3rd Infantry Division commander, said in a statement Tuesday. 'Though we have received some closure, the world is darker without them.'
Hundreds of Lithuanian and U.S. soldiers and rescuers took part in the search through the thick forests and swampy terrain around Pabradė, 6 miles (10 kilometers) west of the border with Belarus. The 63-ton (126,000-pound) armored vehicle was discovered March 26 submerged in 15 feet (4.5 meters) of water, but it took days to pull it out of the bog.
Lithuanian armed forces provided military helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial systems and search and rescue personnel. They brought in additional excavators, sluice and slurry pumps, other heavy construction equipment, technical experts and several hundred tons of gravel and earth to help the recovery.
Navy divers maneuvered through thick layers of mud, clay and sediment with zero visibility to reach the vehicle Sunday evening and attach steel cables so it could be pulled out. When just three of the four bodies were found, the divers began a search of the bog area for the fourth.
Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, expressed gratitude to the U.S. allies who sent troops and equipment to help in the search and recovery.
'I can't say enough about the support our Lithuanian Allies have provided us. We have leaned on them, and they, alongside our Polish and Estonian Allies — and our own Sailors, Airmen and experts from the Corps of Engineers — have enabled us to find and bring home our Soldiers,' Donahue said in the statement. 'This is a tragic event, but it reinforces what it means to have Allies and friends.'
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