These motorcycles, parked at Ishikawa Police Station in Uruma, Okinawa, Nov. 20, 2024, were involved in a fatal collision the previous day in Kin town. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Marine motorcyclist killed Tuesday in a multivehicle accident in northern Okinawa was a Texas native and motor vehicle operator with multiple service awards, according to the Marine Corps.
Lance Cpl. Avery Wayne Leverette, 21, of the III Marine Expeditionary Force Support Battalion at Camp Hansen, died in the five-vehicle crash, III MEF spokesman Capt. Pawel Puczko announced in a news release Thursday.
Leverette was pronounced dead at Chubu hospital in Uruma city at approximately 10:50 p.m., the release said.
“Lance Cpl. Leverette has had a lasting impact on all the Marines around him over the past few years,” battalion commander Lt. Col. Kieran O’Neil said in the release. “His death is tragic, and the battalion joins his family in grief. He will always be loved and remembered.”
Leverette enlisted in the Marine Corps out of Houston in March 2022 and was promoted to lance corporal in May 2023, according to the Corps.
His awards include the Korea Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.
Leverette’s motorcycle collided with the motorcycle of a fellow III MEF Marine at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday on Highway 329 in the Yaka district of Kin town, according to an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman. His bike veered into the oncoming lane, hit the right front of a passenger car and then a kei truck behind the car.
Some Japanese government officials may speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
The other Marine, a 20-year-old corporal who was not identified by the Marines or police, hit the rear of the passenger car in front of him, the police spokesman said. He was in stable condition at Naval Hospital Okinawa, Puczko wrote in an email Wednesday. Police said he apparently broke his ankle.
“U.S. Military officials are working with local authorities to investigate the incident,” the III MEF release said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.
