Marine recently awarded Silver Star among those killed in crash

ONSLOW COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — We’re learning new details about the Camp Lejeune Marines killed in a training mission in the Florida Panhandle.

Major Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of MARSOC, released today the seven names of the men killed earlier this week. Among the victims was a Marine recently awarded the Silver Star. Their Marines identified include Capt. Stanford Henry Shaw III of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Master Sgt. Thomas Saunders of Camp Lejeune; Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn of Queens, New York; Staff Sgt. Trevor P. Blaylock of Lake Orion, Michigan; Staff Sgt. Kerry Michael Kemp of Port Washington, Wisconsin; Staff Sgt. Andrew Seif of Holland, Michigan; and Staff Sgt. Marcus Bawol from Warren, Michigan.

“They were all from the same team so they were very, very close,” Osterman said.

SSgt. Seif was awarded the Silver Star March 6 for risking his life to save another Marine while deployed in Afghanistan in 2012. The Silver Star is the third highest decoration of valor for the armed forces.

SSgt. Kemp, another victim, was described by family members in reports as a “proud Marine, a loving husband and most wonderful father,” with a child about 1-year-old. Family members said SSgt. Bawol “loved everything about the military” to media outlets.

Tuesday night’s training involved practicing “insertion and extraction missions,” using small boats and helicopters to get troops into and out of a target site, said Capt. Barry Morris, spokesman for the Marine Corps Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The helicopter went down in thick fog; that fog continues to cause delays in the recovery efforts.

“At that point the one helicopter obviously made it back,” Osterman said. “When they determined that the second helicopter was not back with them in that return, they immediately started literally within 30 minutes of notice that it was missing went back in in order to begin search operations.”

The helicopter crashed in a strip of water between the mainland of the Florida Panhandle and a long barrier island facing the Gulf. Military officials said search crews were focused on a 6-mile stretch of the sound.

Four soldiers from the Louisiana Army National Guard also died in the crash.

No word on any memorial or celebration of life services planned at Stone Bay to commemorate those lost.