R.I.P. - American Soldiers Who Were In An M88A2 VTR

R.I.P.

3 of the 4 soldiers have been found deceased.
Three U.S. soldiers who had been at the center of a recovery mission in Lithuania for nearly a week after their armored vehicle sank in a body of water were found dead Monday, the Army said. Efforts were continuing to find the fourth soldier.
The soldiers' identities were being withheld pending notification of their next of kin, the Army said in a statement Monday. The three soldiers found Monday were assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and were permanently stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
The soldiers went missing last Tuesday while conducting a mission to repair and tow an immobilized tactical vehicle. The incident is being investigated by the Army and Lithuanian authorities.
The soldiers' submerged armored recovery vehicle was found by the Army and Lithuanian authorities Wednesday. The Army said the vehicle was removed from a peat bog early Monday morning. In an update from over the weekend, the Army said the vehicle was under at least 15 feet of water, clay-like mud and silt.
Hundreds of service members from the Army, U.S. Navy and the militaries of Lithuania and Poland helped in the effort to bring the 63-ton M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicle to the surface, the Army said. Lithuanian civilian agencies also contributed to the effort, with the Army calling the unstable ground conditions around the submerged vehicle an "engineering challenge."
Excavators, pumps and several hundred tons of gravel and earth were moved to the search area near Pabradė, close to the Lithuania-Belarus border, to pull up the vehicle.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement Monday that the soldiers who died in the incident were family.
"Our hearts are heavy with a sorrow that echoes across the whole Marne Division, both forward and at home," Norrie said. "We stand in grief with the families and loved ones of these extraordinary 'Dogface Soldiers' during this unimaginable time."
Norrie said searchers were working around the clock looking for the fourth soldier.
Navy divers were gridding out the area around the peat bog to conduct a systematic search, the Army said.
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda expressed his condolences to President Trump and the U.S. on social media.

 

M88A2 HERCULES (Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lifting Extraction System) 63.5 Tons