US Army soldiers Lyndon Abonita, Valsin Tate Jr. killed in Alaska car crash
The US Army recognized two younger soldiers killed in a horrific four-vehicle crash in Anchorage, Alaska final week.
Spc. Wyne Lyndon Jacob Abonita, 22, of Yokosuka, Japan, and Pvt. Valsin David Tate Jr., 23, of New Orleans, are the 2 paratroopers who died in the collision on May 13, the US Army mentioned.
Both males had been members of the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, and got here to Alaska from their respective bases in 2019.
“This was a tragic situation, and the entire battalion is mourning the loss of two of our paratroopers,” Regiment commander, Lt. Col. Dustin Blair said in a statement.
Both males had been valued members of the U.S. Army and obtained the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and Parachutist Badge.
Spc. Wyne Lyndon Jacob Abonita was additionally awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal, Stars and Stripes reported.
They had been each stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Four others had been injured in the crash, Anchorage police mentioned in a statement. The two paratroopers had been pronounced useless on the scene moments after the crash, whereas two injured soldiers had been rushed to a neighborhood hospital with non-life-threatening accidents.
One of the soldiers was launched from the hospital on Saturday. No arrests have been made, police said.
Abonita and Tate had been touring on the freeway when their car and a close-by car lost management and veered onto oncoming visitors, cops mentioned. One of the automobiles then crashed right into a tree, injuring two further soldiers.
US Army officers and Anchorage police didn’t instantly reply to The Post’s request for remark.
The incident comes after a US soldier was tragically killed by a bear in the identical state earlier this month.
Army Staff Sgt. Seth Michael Plant, 30, was recognized because the soldier who died from accidents sustained throughout a bear assault on May 10 in a distant coaching space at Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson.
Last month, a 21-year-old paratrooper from New York State died whereas leaping from a helicopter throughout a coaching train.
Spc. Abigail Jenks, of Gansevoort, was doing a static-line soar from a UH-60 Blackhawk chopper at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Monday, when she was fatally injured, military officials said.
