The United States Marine Corps has identified three service members killed in an MV-22 Osprey aircraft crash off the east coast of Australia on Saturday, August 5, 2017.
Killed in the crash were:
• Staff Sgt. Nicholas S. James, 28, of Bakersfield, California;
• Cpl. Nathaniel F. Ordway, 21, of Sedgwick, Kansas; and
• Pfc. Ruben P. Velasco, 19, of Los Angeles, California.
The Marines were part of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, an Australian-led training exercise. The MV-22 involved in the crash was assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265 out of Futenma, Okinawa. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
