United States and Lithuanian authorities have recovered the bodies of three of the soldiers who went missing last week near the town of Pabradė, while one remains missing.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced on Monday morning the “loss of three brave Soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division,” saying, “We will not rest until the fourth and final soldier is found and brought home.”
The soldiers went missing during a training mission last Tuesday, and their vehicle was found submerged in the bog a day later. It took several days and significant military resources to pull it out on Sunday.
“The Soldiers we have lost in this tragedy were not just Soldiers — they were a part of our family. Our hearts are heavy with a sorrow that echoes across the whole Marne Division, both forward and at home,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, the 3rd Division commanding general. “We stand in grief with the families and loved ones of these extraordinary ‘Dogface Soldiers’ during this unimaginable time. But the search isn’t finished until everyone is home. Words cannot express our gratitude to those still working around the clock during these extensive search and recovery efforts and your unwavering commitment not to rest until all are found.”
U.S. Navy divers had to attach two lines to a hoist point on the 70-ton vehicle to allow it to be pulled from the mud.
Brig. Gen. John Lloyd, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division, said it’s “highly complex trying to get to the vehicle itself with the terrain out here and where the M88 is sitting in a bog swamp-like area, below the waterline. So not only are we dealing with the terrain, a lot of mud that is over top of the vehicle, but also the fact that it’s 70 tons that we’re trying to recover out of a swamp or bog.”
There was also a mudslide over the weekend that added “at least six hours of hard work,” according to Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė, who described the effort itself as an “exhausting fight with the power of the deep swamp!”
US DEPLOYING MORE ADVANCED MILITARY CAPABILITIES TO PHILIPPINES
Both the Lithuanian and U.S. militaries have poured resources into the effort to save the four service members, but the conditions have complicated those efforts.
The training took place near the Lithuanian town of Pabradė, about 30 miles south of the capital, Vilnius, and 6 miles from Lithuania’s border with Belarus.