Petty Officer First Class Abraham Lopez, 39 Lopez dedicated his life to the Navy and was looking forward to retiring after one last deployment. He was born in El Paso, Texas, and wrestled at Irvin High School. Immediately after graduating he enlisted. “He wanted to join the Navy. He wanted to serve his country,” his friend Israel Ortega told KFOX in El Paso. Lopez married and had two children. He joined the McCain in 2014 and planned to retire in 2017, his 20th year of service. His father, Richard Lopez, told a court that he expected more of the Navy. “This was his last mission,” he said. “He worked hard for almost 20 years for his country.”

Petty Officer First Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31 Findley was the youngest of three siblings living in San Diego, where his father was stationed in the Navy. As a boy he disassembled his sisters’ radios to figure out how they worked. “He liked those better than stuff from Toys R Us,” his sister Amy Winters said. When he was 13, his mother died of a brain aneurysm, and it affected him deeply, Winters said. A lover of novels by Leo Tolstoy and his mother’s favorite book, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, he studied literature in college. After he joined the Navy, he married Chenoah Kent and had a daughter and a son. “I saw him go from someone who had little direction,” Kent said, “to someone who took his job and duty to his country seriously.” They remained friends after divorcing. When Findley was stationed in Okinawa, he remarried. Riho Findley’s first trip to the United States was to attend her husband’s funeral. “After I came back from the U.S., I realized I was going to be alone,” she said.

Petty Officer Second Class Corey George Ingram, 28 Ingram took great pride in family, history, service and his hometown. He was the oldest of his generation in a large family centered in Poughkeepsie, New York. As a boy he played with toy soldiers because his father served in the military. “He idolized his dad and wanted to be in his dad’s footsteps,” said his mother, Jacqueline Ingram. He was fascinated by military and African-American history, she said. He kept stern watch over his two younger siblings and numerous cousins, but at the family’s annual Independence Day block party he made faces, cracked jokes and wore mismatched outfits to make everyone smile. “He was essentially the rock for all of us,” said cousin Phylicia Isaacs, 29. After 18 months of community college he joined the Navy. He treated his shipmates on the McCain like family also, especially Timothy Eckels Jr. “He loved the camaraderie,” his mother said.

Petty Officer Third Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26 Doyon was a runner, swimmer, skateboarder, hiker and lover of the outdoors. He was born in Olney, Maryland, and raised in Suffield, Connecticut. He graduated from Cathedral High School. He filled his Facebook page with photos of sunsets, mountaintop vistas and dew glinting off grass. “He only looked at the good in people and on the bright side of everything,” his obituary said. His mother, Karen Doyon, told a military courtroom that her son was “the gentlest soul.” “My son was my friend, my happiness, my encouragement,” she said. “The thought of him being crushed ... the thought of him trying to take his last breath while he was dying, will never ever leave my mind.”

Petty Officer Second Class Jacob Danile Drake, 21 Drake loved traveling the world with the Navy and was looking forward to getting married. “Jake died way too early but he was doing what he loved and serving his country with some of his best friends that he met while in the Navy,” his fiancée, Megan Partlow, wrote in a brief message. Drake was born and raised in the rural Ohio village of Cable, about 50 miles west of Columbus. Drake’s sister, Veronica Drake, told the Springfield News-Sun that her brother enlisted after graduating from high school because he hoped to see the world. Partlow, whom he had begun dating while in high school, visited him when he was in Japan and they decided to marry. “I’ve known since I first saw him that he is the one I want to spend my forever with,” she told the New York Post soon after the crash.

Petty Officer Third Class John Henry Hoagland, 20 Hoagland knew from kindergarten that he wanted to serve in the armed forces, his mother said. “After 9/11 he just started saying he wanted to join the military and take care of his sister,” Cynthia Kimball said. Hoagland was born in Conroe, Texas, and grew up in Cleveland, Texas. He decided to join the Navy, and his time on the McCain convinced him he made the right choice. “John thought the Navy was amazing,” Kimball said. He was thrilled to visit South Korea, Vietnam and Australia. Often, he sent his mother, with whom he got matching anime Fairy Tail tattoos, photos from the ship’s deck. “He thought the ocean was beautiful, and the stars,” she said. Just a few hours before the collision, he read text messages that she sent him. “So I know he knew I loved him,” she said, “because that’s the last thing I told him.”

Petty Officer Third Class Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22 Smith loved his family and animals and was so fascinated by video games that he dreamed one day of programming his own, said his mother, April Brandon. He was born in Jackson, Michigan, and loved scouting outside for pets. “He wanted them all; he would bring in everything from stray cats to frogs into my house all the time,” Brandon said. He split his early teen years between Michigan and Norfolk, Virginia, where his father moved after his parents separated. Between them, he had five siblings, as well as dogs. In high school he joined Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and became president of the video game club. His favorite game was the Legend of Zelda and he self-published his own fan-fiction based on it. Like his father and maternal grandfather before him, he joined the Navy. From the McCain, Smith sent his mother pictures of new animals he got to see in Australia including crocodiles, snakes and kangaroos. They last spoke just days before he died. “The last thing I said was, ‘I love you, Son,’” she said.

Petty Officer Second Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26 When he joined the Navy, Bushell became the fourth generation of his family to serve in the military — a great-grandfather in World War I, a great uncle in World War II and a grandfather in the Air Force. He had an intelligence, a charisma and a fearlessness that impressed all who knew him, said his father, Thomas Bushell. “The world will never know what they lost when they lost that boy,” he said. He was born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the youngest of four siblings. His oldest sister, Ashley Day, said her brother loved the outdoors, animals and adventure. “He lived without fear,” she told a military courtroom. Kevin once sent a text message to a family member who worried about his safety at sea. “I am safe on this ship. I am on a destroyer. It’s the safest place to be,” he wrote.

Petty Officer Third Class Logan Stephen Palmer, 23 Palmer joined the military like his two older brothers and was relishing his opportunity to experience the world. He was born in Decatur, Illinois, was an active member of his church and became an Eagle Scout. He went to Sangamon Valley High School in the nearby town of Niantic and also graduated from Richland Community College. “Logan was determined to serve,” the superintendent of his school district, Robert Meadows, told the Herald & Review newspaper. Teresa Palmer, Logan’s mother, said he had speech challenges and had his own language with his older brother Caleb. Palmer said Logan played in Little League, loved Marvel Comics and movies. He was a hugger whom she called “Logie Bear.” Palmer recalled that her son boarded the McCain on May 26, 2017. “I kept him alive for 23 years. You took him from me in three months,” she told a courtroom packed with Navy commanders.