KILLED IN DEADLY TRAINING ACCIDENT
On July 30, 2020, members of the 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Pendleton, engaged in amphibious training exercises at San Clemente Island off the coast of San Diego. As their amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) was returning to a Navy ship waiting off the island, the AAV began taking on water and quickly sank. The accident resulted in the deaths of nine Marines and has been described by the Marine Corps as the deadliest training accident involving that type of vehicle in the history of the Marine Corps. There were a reported fifteen Marines and one sailor aboard the AAV. After the sinking it was determined that seven Marines had successfully evacuated the AAV as it sank, one body was recovered at the scene, one injured Marine was airlifted to a San Diego hospital where he died, and the bodies of the remaining seven Marines were not recovered until the AAV was located by a robotic submarine and raised on August 7th from 385-feet. As of the time of this writing the Marine Corps has not announced the cause of the AAV taking on water.
CPL Cesar A. Villanueva was unfortunately one of the nine Marines who died during this accident and whose body was recovered on August 7th. He has been buried at Crestlawn Memorial Park in Riverside, California, and is survived by his wife to whom he had been married only one month.
Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)
