By Sarah Baafi
The bodies of three U.S. soldiers who went missing during a military training exercise in Lithuania have been recovered from a peat bog, the U.S. Army confirmed on Monday. Efforts to locate a fourth soldier are ongoing near the city of Pabradė, close to the Belarusian border.
The soldiers, part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, disappeared on March 25 while operating an M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicle. They were conducting a mission to repair and tow an immobilized tactical vehicle when their 63-ton vehicle became submerged in the bog. The submerged vehicle was located on March 26, but challenging terrain delayed its recovery.
The complex six-day operation involved U.S., Lithuanian, and Polish armed forces, as well as specialized equipment such as excavators, slurry pumps, and bulldozers. U.S. Navy divers faced near-zero visibility while attaching cables to the sunken vehicle. Several hundred tons of gravel and earth were used to stabilize the bog for the recovery effort.
Major General Christopher Norrie of the 3rd Infantry Division expressed sorrow over the loss. “The soldiers we have lost in this tragedy were not just soldiers—they were a part of our family,” he said in a statement. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė offered condolences, with Nausėda stating, “Lithuania mourns together with the American nation.”
The soldiers were deployed to Lithuania as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a NATO initiative launched in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Their identities are being withheld pending notification of their families. Both U.S. and Lithuanian authorities are investigating the cause of the accident
Source: CNN
