thedrifter
03-21-08, 10:34 AM
March 20, 2008
"Honorable men" remembered
Troy Moon
tmoon@pnj.com
More than 1,200 Marines and fellow service members said goodbye on Thursday to two Marine brethren who died on a training flight last week.
Flight instructor Major David Yaggy, 34, of Sparks, Md., and student-pilot 1st Lt. Alexander Prezioso II, 23, of Lake Worth died when their T-34C Turbomentor plane crashed on Friday into the side of Chandler Mountain in Alabama. Both Marine officers were assigned to Training Squadron Six at Whiting Field Naval Air Station in Milton.
The crash still is under investigation.
Prezioso was posthumously awarded his wings of gold, designating him as a Naval aviator, and promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant during the memorial service at the Naval Air Station Chapel at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Yaggy, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, was remembered as a fearless warrior who was devoted to instructing new aviators.
“If you were close to them, then you know they were honorable men,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Riggs, Whiting Field chaplain. “You know that their lives were significant and meaningful.”
More than 1,200 people attended the memorial service. Only 900 were seated; the rest stood in aisles or outside the chapel, where loudspeakers were set up for the overflow crowd.
Afterward, family members and memorial attendees watched solemnly as four T-34C planes from Whiting Field flew overhead in the Missing Man formation, in honor of the two Naval aviators.
Yaggy is survived by his wife, Erin and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter Elizabeth, along with numerous other relatives. The family resides in Pensacola.
Prezioso is survived by his father, Alexander Prezioso, of New Jersey, his mother, Fran Prezioso, and a sister, Tara Prezioso, both of Lake Worth.
Both Marines are expected to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, though arrangements have not been finalized.
Ellie
"Honorable men" remembered
Troy Moon
tmoon@pnj.com
More than 1,200 Marines and fellow service members said goodbye on Thursday to two Marine brethren who died on a training flight last week.
Flight instructor Major David Yaggy, 34, of Sparks, Md., and student-pilot 1st Lt. Alexander Prezioso II, 23, of Lake Worth died when their T-34C Turbomentor plane crashed on Friday into the side of Chandler Mountain in Alabama. Both Marine officers were assigned to Training Squadron Six at Whiting Field Naval Air Station in Milton.
The crash still is under investigation.
Prezioso was posthumously awarded his wings of gold, designating him as a Naval aviator, and promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant during the memorial service at the Naval Air Station Chapel at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Yaggy, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, was remembered as a fearless warrior who was devoted to instructing new aviators.
“If you were close to them, then you know they were honorable men,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Riggs, Whiting Field chaplain. “You know that their lives were significant and meaningful.”
More than 1,200 people attended the memorial service. Only 900 were seated; the rest stood in aisles or outside the chapel, where loudspeakers were set up for the overflow crowd.
Afterward, family members and memorial attendees watched solemnly as four T-34C planes from Whiting Field flew overhead in the Missing Man formation, in honor of the two Naval aviators.
Yaggy is survived by his wife, Erin and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter Elizabeth, along with numerous other relatives. The family resides in Pensacola.
Prezioso is survived by his father, Alexander Prezioso, of New Jersey, his mother, Fran Prezioso, and a sister, Tara Prezioso, both of Lake Worth.
Both Marines are expected to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, though arrangements have not been finalized.
Ellie