U.S. Army Spc. DaJuan Cornish was a member of 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. (U.S. Army)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A U.S. Army specialist was killed over the weekend in a motorcycle crash near this Marine Corps base, according to the Army and Japanese police.

Spc. DaJuan Cornish, 25, of 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Kadena Air Base, died in the single-vehicle accident at 2:23 p.m. Sunday, brigade spokesman Capt. Frank Spatt confirmed by email the following day.

Cornish, from Jacksonville, Fla., was a Patriot missile system launcher crew member. He enlisted in the Army in January 2019 and arrived on Okinawa in January 2024, Army spokesman Staff Sgt. Connor Davis wrote in an email Monday. 

Cornish was pronounced dead at Naval Hospital Okinawa around 3:20 p.m., a spokesman for Okinawa Prefectural Police said by phone Monday.

He was riding east on Road 130 from the Chatan intersection toward the Zukeran intersection when he collided with the guard pipes on the left roadside, the police spokesman said.

Cornish “hit his whole body hard” and fell off the motorcycle near the pipes. The bike slid out from under him into the opposite lane, the spokesman said.

The accident is under investigation, the spokesman said.

Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

“We will continue to cooperate with the local authorities in the investigation,” Spatt wrote.

Cornish is the third U.S. service member reported killed aboard a motorcycle this year on Okinawa.

In November, Marine Lance Cpl. Avery Wayne Leverette, 21, assigned to a III Marine Expeditionary Force support battalion at Camp Hansen, died when his motorcycle collided with another Marine’s bike on Route 329 in Kin town. The other Marine was injured.

Another Marine, Sgt. Hayden Steingold, 24, of Greenacres, Fla., died March 7 when his motorcycle collided with another vehicle on Route 58 in Ginowan city.

Hayden was assigned to Camp Foster with the 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group.