The bodies of four Marines who were killed when a military aircraft crashed during a NATO training flight in northern Norway earlier this month have been returned to the United States.
Officials said on Saturday that hundreds of Marines, sailors, service members, and civilians rendered final salutes to the fallen Marines in Bodø, Norway, over the weekend.
The bodies 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. The remains of the Marines will ultimately be moved to their final resting places according to their families’ wishes, officials said in a statement.
All four of the Marines were assigned to Marine Tiltrotor Squadron 261.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area at the time.
“The pilots and crew were committed to accomplishing their mission and serving a cause greater than themselves,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Cederholm, the commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, in a letter to his Marines and their families.
“We will continue to execute the mission while keeping these Marines and their service on the forefront of our minds. We will never allow these Marines’ sacrifice to go unnoticed or unappreciated,” Cederholm said. “Keep these Marines and their loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.”
The drills are held every two years over large areas across Norway, including above the Arctic Circle, and seek to explore how Norway would manage reinforcements. Officials said they were planned long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.