4 Marine Copter Crash Victims Were Gulf Veterans
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SAN DIEGO — The four Camp Pendleton Marines killed Wednesday when their UH-1 Huey helicopter apparently broke apart and crashed near the Salton Sea during a training flight were identified Thursday as Persian Gulf War veterans.
Officials at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro identified the dead Marines as Master Sgt. Joe C. Snell Jr., 41, of Oceanside; Capt. Daniel J. Adams, 30, of Brick Ocean, N.J.; Capt. Phillip G. Chapman, 30, of Ft. Lewis Pierce, Wash., and Cpl. Jeffrey D. Couch, 22, of Niceville, Fla.
An El Toro statement said the Marines, attached to the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, crashed three miles east of Calpatria, which is southeast of the Salton Sea, during a routine training mission.
Although the helicopter and the Marines were stationed at Camp Pendleton, the squadron is attached to the air wing at El Toro.
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