The U.S. Navy released the names Saturday of the four San Diego-based aviators killed in last week’s crash of an S-3B Viking aircraft on a small Pacific island north of Iwo Jima.
The servicemembers killed are:
• Lt. Patrick Sean Myrick, U.S. Navy, 31, Santa Monica, Calif.• Lt. James Joseph Pupplo, U.S. Navy Reserves, 34, Selden, N.Y.• Lt. Cmdr. Scott Allen Zellem, U.S. Navy, 35, Indiana, Pa.• Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Brent Showalter, U.S. Navy, 24, Fontana, Calif.
A memorial service was slated Sunday aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.
All four were assigned to Sea Control Squadron 35, based at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif.
They were killed Aug. 10 when their jet, flying from the Stennis, crashed into Kita Io Jima, an uninhabited, volcanic island with sheer sides about 45 miles north of Iwo Jima in the western Pacific Ocean.
At the time the crew was conducting a routine training mission with the Stennis and the USS Kitty Hawk carrier strike groups.
Navy officials said Friday they had found the wreckage and identified two sets of remains.
Recovery operations on the island are continuing. The Navy is also conducting a mishap investigation into the cause of the crash.
