The fourth U.S. Army soldier who went missing while training in Lithuania last week was found dead in a swamp.
In a statement, the U.S. Army stated, “The Soldier was found after a search by hundreds of rescue workers from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Lithuanian Armed Forces, Polish Armed Forces, Estonian Armed Forces, and many other elements of the Lithuanian government and civilian agencies.”
The soldiers went missing on March 25th while operating an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle in a training area.
Dreadful tragedy. May they RIP.
BBC News – Bodies of three missing US soldiers found in #Lithuaniahttps://t.co/zGa5BIjBpb
— Nick Short 🇺🇦 (@nickfshort) April 1, 2025
Per ABC News:
The fourth U.S. Army soldier who went missing during a scheduled training exercisenear PabradÄ—, Lithuania, last week was found dead on Tuesday, according to the Army.
“The Soldier was found after a search by hundreds of rescue workers from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Lithuanian Armed Forces, Polish Armed Forces, Estonian Armed Forces, and many other elements of the Lithuanian government and civilian agencies,” the Army said in a statement.
The bodies of the other three soldiers were recovered on Monday.
The four soldiers are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Their identities have not been released.
“This past week has been devastating,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, 3rd Infantry Division commanding general, said in a statement. “Though we have received some closure, the world is darker without them.”
The soldiers went missing on March 25 while operating an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, the Army said, and the next day, their 63-ton vehicle was found submerged in about 15 feet of water and mud in a training area.
🇺🇸 Fourth US soldier on training in Lithuania found dead, White House press secretary confirms.
– FRWL pic.twitter.com/qL9zGqIgDd— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) April 1, 2025
Here’s what NPR reported:
The bodies of three missing U.S. soldiers have been recovered after an American armored vehicle became submerged in a dense swamp in Lithuania for more than five days, the U.S. military said Monday.
ADVERTISEMENTTheir identities have been withheld while their next of kin are being notified.
Meanwhile, search and recovery operations continue for a fourth soldier believed to have been in the vehicle.
“We stand in grief with the families and loved ones of these extraordinary ‘Dogface Soldiers’ during this unimaginable time. But the search isn’t finished until everyone is home,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, 3rd Infantry Division commanding general, said in a statement.
The soldiers, all part of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart in Georgia, went missing in the early hours of March 25 while on a training mission to recover another Army vehicle.
The incident happened in a training area near PabradÄ—, a city in eastern Lithuania close to the Belarus border. The vehicle carrying the four soldiers was discovered the next day, buried under a thick layer of mud and water.
Recovery efforts have been complicated by the muddy swampland and 70-ton weight of the missing soldiers’ M88 Hercules armored vehicle.
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