The 4 American soldiers who disappeared in Lithuania found dead, said the army Blogging Sole

The four American soldiers who had been at the center of a recovery mission in Lithuania since a week After their Lying armored vehicle In a peat bog near the border with Belarus, it was found dead, said the army. The fourth body of the disappeared soldier was found on Tuesday, one day after the other three soldiers were found, the command of Europe and Africa of the army said in a statement.

All the soldiers were assigned to the 1st combat team of the armored brigade, the 3rd infantry division and were permanently in Fort Stewart in Georgia.

The four soldiers were identified by the army as the SGT. Jose Duenez, Jr. 25, de Joliet, Illinois; Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, from Glendale, California; and pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, from Dededo, Guam; And the staff sergeant. TROY S. KTUSON-COLLINS, 28, from Battle Creek, Michigan.

“This loss is simply devastating,” said major-general Christopher Norrie, the 3rd infantry division commanding the general, in a press release. “These men were soldiers honored by the Marne division. We wrap our arms around families and dear beings of our soldiers for incredibly difficult times. ”

The soldiers disappeared on Tuesday, March 25, while carrying out a mission to repair and towed a immobilized tactical vehicle. Their submerged armored recovery vehicle was located by the army and the Lithuanian authorities the next day.

The incident is the subject of an investigation by the army and the Lithuanian authorities.

The command said that the vehicle had been withdrawn from a peat bog early on Monday morning. In an update of this weekend, the command said that the vehicle was under at least 15 feet of water, mud in the shape of clay and silt.

The discovery occurred after the recovery dogs of Lithuania and the neighboring country of Estonia joined the research effort, the command said on Tuesday. The dogs were placed in an inflatable boat from the American navy in the hope of collecting oligo-earners below the surface of the peat bog.

Hundreds of army, navy and soldiers from Lithuania and Poland have helped to surface the 63 -ton armored armored vehicle, said the command. The Lithuanian civil agencies also contributed to the effort, the command calling the unstable soil conditions around the submerged vehicle an “engineering challenge”.

“I cannot say enough about the support that our Lithuanian allies have provided us,” said General Christopher Donahue, commander of the US military in Europe and Africa, in the Tuesday press release. “We relied on them, and they, alongside our Polish and Estonian allies – and our own sailors, aviators and experts from the Corps of Engineers – allowed us to find and bring our soldiers home. This is a tragic event, but it reinforces what it means to have allies and friends. ”

Excavators, pumps and several hundred tonnes of gravel and earth have been moved to the research area near Pabradė, near the Lithuanie-Belarus border, to pull the vehicle.

A devastating loss

Norrie said soldiers who died in the incident were a family.

“This loss is simply devastating,” said Norrie on Tuesday in a statement. “… no word can capture the depth of the pain or the gratitude that we feel for their service.”

The identified soldiers were one of 3,500 who deployed in January in various places across Poland and the Baltic States for a nine -month rotation as part of the Atlantic resolve in support of NATO.

Duenez was a maintenance of the M1 Abrams tanks with more than seven years in the army. He arrived in Fort Stewart in February 2022. Duenez had already been deployed in Poland in 2021 and Germany in 2022.

Captain Madyson K. Welens, commander of Diesel support troops, said in a statement that Duenez had praised “each challenge with a smile and a desire to support anyone who needed help”.

Franco, 25, was a manager of the M1 Abrams tanks that served in the army for more than six years. He arrived in Fort Stewart in 2019. He was deployed in Korea in 2020 and Germany in 2022.

“Edvin was a friend whose influence touched so much,” said Welens.

Taitano, 21, was a maintainer of the M1 Abrams tanks during its first deployment. He served in the army for almost two years. He arrived in Fort Stewart in October 2023, after his training at the entrance.

Taitano “has constantly brought the team together with their charisma and laughter,” said CPT. Matthew Lund, commander of the Darkhorse troops, in a declaration.

The last soldier to be identified, Troy S. Kutson-Collins, was an artillery mechanic with more than seven years in the army who had received multiple praise medals.

“Words cannot express how deeply this loss is felt by everyone in our unity,” said Captain Jackson Patillo, commander of Foxtrot Company, 1st Bn., 41st Far. “The staff sergeant Troy Collins was an exceptional friend for all of us and an irreplaceable member of our whole Fox family that we will really miss.”

Knutson-Collins, Duenez and Franco were all posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant, the army said in a statement.

The president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda, expressed condolences to President Trump and the United States on social networks.

“@Realdonaldtrump, Lithuania cries with the American nation”, Nausėda said on the social platform x. “Please accept my sincere condolences, as well as those of the Lithuanian people, for you, relatives of those who have lost their lives and all the inhabitants of the United States of America. During this difficult period, our thoughts and prayers are with you. ”

Where is Lithuania?

Lithuania is located northwest of BelarusThe country led by Alexander LukashenkoA key ally of the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Lithuania, like its neighbor in northern Latvia, joined NATO in 2004. Southwest Lithuania is the Russian province of Kaliningrad and Poland, another member of NATO.

The Baltic Sea is located west of Lithuania.