RELATED: Area Marine was innovator who 'saw silver lining in everything'
Holley, who had deployed to Iraq twice, had served in the Marines since 2003, with assignments in Virginia, California and Japan.
MILITARY NEWS: Wright-Patterson to get new base commander
The daytime crash happened about 2:35 p.m. and 15 miles west of El Centro after the helicopter took off from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twenty-nine Palms, the service branch said. The cause was under investigation, officials said.
The Marines were assigned to a squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego.
MILITARY NEWS: Solider killed 67 years ago in Korea to be buried in Dayton
“The hardest part of being a Marine is the tragic loss of life of a fellow brothers-in-arm,” Col. Craig Leflore, a commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 16, said in a statement. “…These ‘Warhorse’ Marines brought joy and laughter to so many around them.:”
Also killed in the crash were: Capt. Samuel A. Schultz, 28, a pilot, of Huntington Valley, Pa.; First Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, a pilot, of Pinehurst, N.C.; and Lance Cpl. Joseph Conrad, 24, a crew chief, of Baton Rouge, La.,
About the Author