MNJason's airplane thread made me think long and hard about posting this thread. Five years ago to the day is the day that my squadron, HMH-464, lost 8 Marines and 2 Air Force Airmen, in a mid-air collision off the coast Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. I knew 5 of those Marines personally, having deployed with 3 of them just the year prior. Not a day goes by that I don't think about them. Since I posted some pictures on MNJason's thread, I figured I would share a few of my own.
The first is a 53 Detachment photo from 2004 when I was Iraq. Three of the Marines who would later be killed in the mid-air are in this picture. The second is one of my favorite 53 photos. It was taken by a Navy friend of mine while I was serving on the USS Wasp as the Air Operations Officer. The 53s are from my squadron and this picture was taken off the coast of Djibouti in 2007. The third and fourth pictures are from my deployment in 2003 and the location is once again Djibouti. I figured these two pictures may give you some idea of what the place looks like.
The first is a 53 Detachment photo from 2004 when I was Iraq. Three of the Marines who would later be killed in the mid-air are in this picture. The second is one of my favorite 53 photos. It was taken by a Navy friend of mine while I was serving on the USS Wasp as the Air Operations Officer. The 53s are from my squadron and this picture was taken off the coast of Djibouti in 2007. The third and fourth pictures are from my deployment in 2003 and the location is once again Djibouti. I figured these two pictures may give you some idea of what the place looks like.
