Family of Marines heartbroken after NATO exercise crash

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A candlelight vigil will be held for Ross Reynolds in Leominster on Sunday.

Captain Ross A. Reynolds, of Leominster, Mass. Photo/U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Katrina Herrera via AP

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts Marine killed last month during a training exercise in Norway will be honored with a procession and vigil this weekend as his body returns to his hometown.

  • ‘We are heartbroken’: Mass’s family. Marine killed in crash in Norway issues statement

The Leominster Department of Veterans Services said Friday the body of Navy Captain Ross Reynolds is expected to arrive in the city Saturday afternoon between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. after being airlifted to Logan Airport in Boston. Residents are encouraged to line streets along the route to honor the fallen soldier.

A candlelight vigil will then be held Sunday at 7 p.m. at Leominster Town Hall.

And a public vigil will take place on Monday afternoon at the town hall. The funeral mass will take place at the Sainte-Cécile church on Tuesday morning and will also be broadcast live at the town hall.

Interment at the Massachusetts Veterans Cemetery in Winchendon will be private.

Reynolds, a 27-year-old Osprey pilot who joined the Marines in 2017, was one of four Marines killed when their plane crashed during a NATO exercise March 18 in a Norwegian town in the Circle arctic polar.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area. Norwegian officials said the MV-22B Osprey crashed at Graetaedalen in Beiarn, south of Bodoe.

The men were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina.

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