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U.S. Embassy to Commemorate Memorial Day with a Wreath Laying Ceremony
By US Embassy Nassau
May 23, 2017 - 10:44:40 AM


On Monday, May 29th, the United States Embassy will commemorate Memorial Day with a wreath laying ceremony at Clifton Pier in memory of fallen comrades and military veterans.  Special recognition will be given to U.S. Patrol Squadron 23 Sailors, who died off the coast of Nassau on May 7, 1954 and Bahamian Private First Class Norman Darling who died in the Iraq War in 2004.  Sergeant Errol McKinney, U.S. Army, a Bahamian killed in a motorcycle accident in 2013 shortly after to returning to Ft. Bliss, Texas following a deployment to Afghanistan will also be remembered.
 
The ceremony will include representatives from the U.S. Embassy to The Bahamas, our Bahamian counterparts in law enforcement and other government officials.  It will be held at the site of the Memorial to Patrol Squad 23 to commemorate the 10 U.S. crew members who lost their lives during a fateful training mission off the coast of Nassau.
 
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Lisa Johnson, Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General and other officials as well as family members of the fallen sailors will give remarks at the ceremony.
 
The Clifton Memorial site is located about 150 meters east of Commonwealth Brewery on South West Bay Road.
 
On May 7, 1954 at 0334, a VP-23 Squadron Neptune aircraft (MA-5) and its crew, crashed after take-off from Windsor Field, Nassau, The Bahamas while participating in an exercise ASDEVEX 1-54 with ships from the Atlantic Fleet.  The exercise was designed to improve fleet defense against enemy submarine attacks.  The wreckage of the MA-5 was located approximately three and three-quarters miles from the west end of runway 27 at Windsor field.  All 10 personnel onboard died in the crash.
 
On September 4, 1954 the Clifton Pier monument was erected in honor of the lost Sailors of MA-5.  The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation observes annual Memorial Day celebrations in coordination with The U.S. Embassy and The Commonwealth of The Bahamas in remembrance of this event.
 
VP-23 Squadron members that died in plane crash on May 7, 1954:
LTJG William H. Martin, ENS Leland R. Osborn, ENS John C. Tinney, John W. Holle, ADC, Joseph A. Kiliszewski, AT3, Franz E. Nelson, AO3, Thomas R. Caylor, ATAN, Gerald P. Lepard, AD3, Albert J. Olson, AT3 and Fred M. Sparks, AL1.
 

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