Marine who tried to save Osprey pilots posthumously awarded top medal

The Marine Corps in a ceremony on the commandant’s headquarters on Monday introduced their highest non-combat medal, The Navy and Marine Corps Medal, to the mother and father of Cpl. Spencer Collart, who died final yr after his V-22 Osprey crashed in Australia.

Collart, 21, survived the crash however went again into the burning plane to attempt to save the pilots, who had been trapped.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith spoke with emotion in addressing the fallen Marine’s mother and father, Bart and Alexia Collart, who’re from Arlington, Virginia.

“You raised a Marine who within the last moments of his life thought not of himself however of this fellow Marines,” Smith stated. “He didn’t cease to consider the fireplace or the hazard.”

Through the ceremony, Smith, who’s the Marine Corps’ high army officer, cried twice.

The crash in August 2023 was one among 4 deadly accidents since 2022 which have drawn elevated scrutiny of the Osprey, which flies each like a helicopter and an airplane. The Related Press has reported on the mechanical and issues of safety this system has confronted, and there are a number of critiques underway to see if the advanced plane has the sources wanted to enhance its reliability.

Bart Collart known as his son “probably the greatest knuckleheads you ever wished to hang around with.” He stated the pilots and Spencer “misplaced their lives whereas managing to avoid wasting the lives of each Marine they had been transporting,” and he credited the pilots with leveling out the Osprey earlier than it hit the bottom, to provide the troops they had been transporting a greater likelihood of surviving.

Collart’s Osprey was taking part in an Australian army train when it ended up following too intently behind the lead plane and maneuvered to keep away from it, in the end placing it in an unrecoverable fall.

Seconds after the Osprey hit the bottom, the plane full of smoke and flames. In accordance with witness studies within the crash investigation. Collart, the crew chief, had been standing within the tunnel even because the plane was taking place. Many of the 23 troops on board escaped out the again, together with a commander who instructed investigators he noticed Collart escape out a facet door.

A website staff later discovered Collart’s tether — what he’d use to latch onto the Osprey to maneuver round throughout flight — undamaged exterior the plane.

Collart escaped the burning plane “and instantly started making certain the security of the Marines round him,” Smith stated. However Capt. Eleanor LeBeau and plane commander Maj. Tobin Lewis had been nonetheless trapped inside, and Collart went again in to attempt to save them.

Investigators consider he might have unbuckled Lewis from his restraints earlier than he succumbed to the smoke and flames.

One of many Marines who was driving within the again and survived is the son of Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Ben Watson, who most just lately served because the commanding normal of the First Marine Division. Watson attended the ceremony to honor Collart’s service.