Marine Corps identifies 4 killed in NATO exercise crash

U.S. Marines inspect a MV-22B Osprey prior to flight at Norwegian Air Force Base Bodo during Exercise Cold Response 22, Norway, March 16, 2022. Four U.S. Marines were killed when their Osprey aircraft crashed in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise unrelated to Russia's war in Ukraine, authorities said Saturday, March 19. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere tweeted that they died in the crash on Friday night. The cause was under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area.(Lance Cpl. Elias E. Pimentel III/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Marine Corps has identified the four Marines who died when their Osprey aircraft crashed Friday night in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise.

The men, all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing stationed on Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, were identified as:

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— Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
— Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts.
— Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio.
— Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

In a statement issued Sunday night, a Marine Corps spokesman said the bodies were removed from the crash site and were in the process of being returned to the U.S.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area.

Officials in Norway said the MV-22B Osprey crashed in Graetaedalen in Beiarn, south of Bodoe.