FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The body of a Marine killed last month during a NATO training exercise in Norway was returned Saturday to his home in northwest Indiana.
Friends, family and strangers lined the streets as a solemn procession guided the body of Capt. Matthew Tomkiewicz back home.
People brought flags to pay their respects and many veterans lining the route from the airport to a local mortuary were emotional as they honored his service.
"It gets your heart to see so many people do turn out. I come down from the highway and there's people lined up all the way down the highway," said Harold Reust, an Air Force veteran.
Von Jones, who's an Army veteran, added, "and hopefully, with the crowd we have here, we can make the family feel a little bit better."
The 27-year-old was one of four Marines who died when an Osprey aircraft crashed on March 18 in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, the U.S. Marine Corps said.
"It's pretty tough. I hate to see any one of our kids get killed. It just ... gets me. I mean, they're part of my family," Jones said.
The others who died were Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; Gunnery Sgt. James Speedy, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob Moore, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.
Hundreds of U.S. Marines, sailors, service members and civilians who rendered final salutes to the fallen Marines in Bodø, Norway, last week before their bodies were returned to the United States.
After landing at Dover Air Force Base, the Marines continued their journeys to their final resting places.
Gallery: Bodies of Marines killed in NATO exercise returned to US
A plane carrying the remains of Capt. Ross Reynolds landed at Logan International Airport in Boston on Saturday, where it was met by his family and Gov. Charlie Baker.
Six Marines loaded the casket into a hearse, which was then escorted to his hometown of Leominster, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Boston. Hundreds of city residents, many of them bearing U.S. and Marine Corps flags, lined the streets as the hearse made its way to a funeral home in neighboring Fitchburg.
Reynolds, who just got married in February, was an Eagle Scout who graduated from Leominster High School and Worcester State University.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but Norwegian police reported bad weather in the area. Officials in Norway said the MV-22B Osprey crashed in Graetaedalen in Beiarn, south of Bodoe.
The men were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina.