‘It’s your date of death, just finish this mission’: Heartbroken families of fallen Marines, sailor react to failures exposed in tragic AAV sinking investigation
Philip Athey
March 29 at 12:04 PM
When a Marine Corps amphibious assault vehicle with 15 Marines and one sailor aboard started sinking off the coast of California on July 30, 2020, no safety boat was in sight.
As the water inside the AAV rose to calf level the vehicle commander went to the top and started waiving the “November†flag ― a blue and white checkered flag indicating a possible sinking, because the ship’s radio communications were down.
The Marine stood waving the November flag for 20 minutes before any neighboring vehicles noticed. As the vehicle was going down, one of the AAV crewman told the infantry Marines in the back to open the rear hatch so they could escape, a slide into the report obtained by Marine Corps Times said.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2021/03/31/its-your-date-of-death-just-finish-this-mission-families-of-fallen-marines-sailor-react-to-investigation-of-tragic-aav-sinking/
