Airmen and other community members pay their respects as Osprey crew members' remains depart Yokota Air Base, Japan, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — This airlift hub in western Tokyo paused Wednesday morning to pay its respects as the remains of two members of a fallen Osprey crew began their journey home to the United States.
Uniformed service members, civilians dressed for work and mothers with children lined the four-lane street to the main gate as a single hearse passed bearing the remains of airmen who perished Nov. 29 when their CV-22B tiltrotor crashed in southwestern Japan.
“I’m just here to pay respects to fallen brethren in arms,” Air Force Staff Sgt. Drew Francisco, of Tucson, Ariz., said as he waited for the procession to pass.
The tiltrotor was attached to the 353rd Special Operations Wing and stationed at Yokota.
Airmen and other community members wait to pay their respects to fallen Osprey aircrew at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
A message on Yokota’s official Facebook page Tuesday had encouraged the community to turn out “to honor the heroes of GUNDAM-22,” a reference to the lost Osprey’s call sign, during the first leg of the fallen airmen’s trip home by commercial aircraft.
The message asked attendees to refrain from photographing or videoing the procession.
Approximately 1,000 community members watched as the black hearse following a white van and two Air Force police cars slowly passed Yokota’s Friendship Chapel around 8 a.m. and exited through the main gate.
It was the first time Francisco, an air traffic controller, had watched a procession of fallen airmen heading home, he said.
“You never want to see this happen,” he said. “It affects families; it affects everyone.”
Air Force spouse Daniel Wylie stood with coworkers across from the chapel as the procession passed.
“For me, it’s a way of showing support,” he said. “We’re a community and we’re here for each other.”
Airmen and other community members wait to pay their respects to fallen Osprey aircrew at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
The Air Force has recovered seven of eight crew aboard the Osprey when it went down off Yakushima, an island in Kagoshima prefecture. Maj. Eric Spendlove, 36, of St. George, Utah, remains missing.
“There is a combined Japan-U.S. effort in locating and recovering the remains of our eighth Airman,” Air Force Special Operations Command said in an update Tuesday.
The recovered airmen are Maj. Jeffrey Hoernemann, 32, of Andover, Minn.; Maj. Luke Unrath, 34, of Riverside, Calif.; Capt. Terrell Brayman, 32, of Pittsford, N.Y.; Tech Sgt. Zachary Lavoy, 33, of Oviedo, Fla.; Staff Sgt. Jake Turnage, 25, of Kennesaw, Ga.; Senior Airman Brian Johnson, 32, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio; and Staff Sgt. Jake Galliher, 24, of Pittsfield, Mass.
A spokesman for Yokota, where U.S. Forces Japan is headquartered, did not identify which crew members were going home Wednesday or the Tokyo airport from which they would depart. The base is also home to Pacific Air Forces Western Pacific Regional Mortuary.
“The honorable movements of the remaining heroes will occur at a time to be determined,” 1st Lt. Danny Rangel wrote in an emailed statement Wednesday.
The base is encouraging community members to gather Thursday morning in the same area to pay respects to more fallen crew members heading home.
A preliminary investigation indicated that equipment failure, rather than human error, was likely the crash’s cause, Air Force Special Operations Command announced Dec. 6.
Since then, the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have grounded their Ospreys until the investigation determines the cause of the crash and recommendations are made to return the aircraft to service.
