John Ferro and Michael D'Onofrio

Poughkeepsie Journal

NEWBURGH - As investigators continued to inspect a horrific crash scene 1,000 miles away, the tight-knit community surrounding a Newburgh-based Marine squadron took stock of the human cost Wednesday.

Little by little, identities of the 15 Marines and 1 Navy corpsman who died in Monday's crash of a KC-130T refueling plane in a soybean field in rural Mississippi were confirmed through interviews with family members and friends.

Among the dead was one man from Rockland County.

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At least four were linked to the Marine Aerial Refueling and Transport Squadron VMGR-452 that operates out of Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh.

In all, nine from the squadron nicknamed "The Yankees" were on board, along with seven others attached to a Marine battalion based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, making it the deadliest Marine aircraft crash since 2005.

“It’s a shock to any community when you lose life ... but when you lose that many at one clip, it’s a tremendous shock,” said Tracey Lanthier, 77, vice commander of the American Legion Post 1796 in New Windsor.

Meanwhile, military officials said the accident scene included two impact points, one a half-mile north of a rural highway and the other a half-mile south.

That suggested the large, fixed-wing aircraft had broken up sometime before striking the ground, a finding that would be consistent with eyewitness reports.

"Indications are that something went wrong at cruise altitude," Marine Corps Brigadier General Bradley S. James said during a press conference in Mississippi Wednesday. "There was a large debris path."

Bradley said the identities of those killed were being withheld out of respect for the families. However, some family members have already confirmed at least eight individuals. According to various news reports, they include:

Owen Lennon, 26, a 2008 graduate of Ramapo High School from Pomona in Rockland County.

Sgt. Julian Kevianne, 31, of Detroit.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Snowden, 31, of Dallas.

Dan Baldassare, 20, of Colts Neck, New Jersey.

Gunnery Sgt. Brendan Johnson, 46, a Vermont native.

Sgt. Joseph Murray, 26, of Jacksonville, Florida.

Navy Corpsman Ryan Lohrey, 30, a native of Middletown, Indiana.

Staff Sgt. William Kundrat, 33, a native of Frederick, Maryland.

Capt. Sean Elliott, 30, a native of the San Diego area.

Dietrich Schmieman of Washington State, assigned at Stewart.

Talon Leach, 26, of Fulton, Missouri.

Gunnery Sgt. Mark Hopkins, 34, of Virginia and now New Windsor, Orange County.

Capt. Sean "Puffin" Elliot, plane co-pilot, of North Carolina.

Lennon, who played football and tennis at Ramapo, was part of the Stewart-based squadron, according to a statement from Rockland County Executive Ed Day.

So were Kevianne, according to family members interviewed by the Detroit Free-Press; Snowden, according to family members interviewed by FOX 4 News in Dallas; and Johnson, according to the Associated Press.

Lanthier, the American Legion Post 1796 vice commander, said the Marines were an integral part of the community.

“Everybody feeds off them. ... All those people, all those kids, … they went to bars, they bought stuff, they went to grocery stores, they all did that. It affects everybody," he said.

The post has nearly 400 members, some of whom are active members and veterans of the Air National Guard and Marines.

Elsewhere, the City of Poughkeepsie lowered its flags to half-staff, and Newburgh Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio said the town "mourns the loss of these brave service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones, and we extend our sincerest condolences."

In a statement, Marine Lt. Col. Joshua E. Izenour, commander of the squadron, offered thanks for the "tremendous outpouring of support" from local and state officials and community members.

"My focus remains on providing the necessary resources and support to (the) families as they go through this extremely difficult time," Izenour said. "I am also focused on ensuring support to my command's service members and their families who also grieve the loss of our fallen Marines."

The Lockheed Martin KC-130 is a cargo plane converted to provide mid-air refueling. It is also used to transport cargo and people.

Eyewitnesses at the crash scene reported numerous explosions after impact, and military officials warned against approaching the site due to the presence of ammunition.

The plane was taking the seven members of the North Carolina-based Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command and their equipment for what military officials described as "routine small unit pre-deployment training" in Yuma, Arizona.

Six Marines and the one Navy corpsman were from the Camp Lejeune-based 2nd Marine Raider Battalion.

Military officials said the response to the crash involves four phases — recovery of remains and effects and notification of families; preservation of the impact sites; the investigation; and cleanup at and restoration of the sites.

USA Today Network reporters Elijah Baylis, Therese Apel and Matt Spillane contributed to this report.