Camp Pendleton, California — On Sunday, military officials said that one of the four people killed when a U.S. military-rented plane crashed in a rice field in the southern Philippines was a U.S. Marine from California.
Officials at Camp Pendleton, California, said in a statement that Sgt. Jacob M. Durham, 22, of Long Beach, died Thursday in the crash of an airplane that was on a regular mission “providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies.” The reason of the crash was being looked into by officials.
The military says that three security contractors were also killed in the crash.
In Maguindanao del Sur province, a small plane crashed, according to the CAA of the Philippines. The bodies of the four people were recovered from the wreckage in Ampatuan town, said Ameer Jehad Tim Ambolodto, a safety officer of Maguindanao del Sur.
For decades, U.S. troops have been stationed at a military camp in the south of the Philippines to help teach and advise Filipino forces fighting Muslim militants. In a mostly Roman Catholic country, the area is home to a small group of Muslims.
A provincial disaster-mitigation officer named Windy Beaty told The Associated Press on Thursday that she had heard that people had seen smoke coming from the plane and heard an explosion before it crashed less than a kilometer (about half a mile) from a group of farmhouses.
Officials say Durham was trained as an electronic intelligence and electromagnetic warfare expert and was sent to work with the 1st Radio Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group. In January 2021, he joined the Marines. On February 1, 2021, he was given his present rank.
Police say Durham has been given the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, a Meritorious Mast, and Naval Aircrew Insignia.
In the statement, Lt. Col. Mabel B. Annunziata, commanding officer of 1st Radio Battalion, said, “Sgt. Durham lived up to the highest standards of the Marine Corps by showing calmness, intelligence, and selfless leadership.” “His fellow Marines loved and respected him a great deal.”
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