Marine who died in helicopter crash to be honored at Miramar service on Tuesday
Apr 20, 2018Derik Holley will receive full military honors Tuesday during a special ceremony at Miramar National Cemetery.The dead Marine won’t be buried there. His cremated remains will return for a private family memorial service at a nearby mortuary.The public is urged to line the route his funeral procession will take from the cemetery shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, after a Marine aircraft flyover.“People might think that this is backwards, but the procession is leaving early in the morning, during rush hour traffic and when kids are going to school, so we decided it was better to honor Gunnery Sgt. Holley and his family when they left the cemetery,” said Laura Herzog, the founder and chief executive officer of the Honoring Our Fallen organization.A native of Dayton, Ohio, Holley, 33, was one of four “Warhorse” crewmen from the Miramar-based Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 who died on April 3 when their CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter crashed about 15 miles west of El Centro, near the desert community of Plaster City and the international border with Mexico.The other Marines lost in the crash were Capt. Samuel Abraham Schultz, 28, of Pennsylvania; 1st Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, of North Carolina; and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, 24, of Louisiana.Military investigators continue to probe the cause of the mishap.Holley’s remains were flown to San Diego International Airport on Saturday evening.San Diegans lined parts of the route from the airport to the Greenwood Mortuary following a special ceremony for him on the tarmac.On Tuesday morning, the funeral procession to sister funeral parlor Clairemont Mortuary will begin by heading west on Nobel Drive, just outside the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ cemetery.It will then turn south on Genesee Avenue before traveling east on Balboa Avenue and north on Mount Abernathy Avenue.Herzog said that she expects many well wishers waving flags to honor him near the mortuary entrance at 4266 Mount Abernathy Avenue.Born on Sept. 27, 1984, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to Richard and Sylvia (Rockwell) Holley, ... (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
