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Association of the Marine Corps VMGR and VMR Community

Membership open to all ranks and MOS's of anyone ever serving in or in direct support of any VMR or VMGR Squadron. 

The Marine Corps Air Transport Association is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit charitable organization incorporated in the state of Texas. All donations are tax deductible. 

January 9, 2002, the Raider 04 Loss- MCATA Remembers

04 Jan 2023 8:30 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


On January 9, 2002, seven of our Marines from VMGR-352 perished when their aircraft, Raider 04, impacted a mountain near Shamsi, Pakistan. As you are all well aware by now, the VMGR Memorial Monument will ensure their names, along with the thirty-six other Marines lost while operating USMC KC-130’s in over 60 years of operations, are not forgotten. You can contribute to the VMGR Memorial Monument here:

https://mcata.wildapricot.org/VMGRMemorial

Whether or not you can contribute to the monument (if you already have, thank you), please take a minute to read about Raider 04 and its crew of seven. January 9th marks twenty-one years since our Marine Corps transport family, and the seven families of these fine Marines, suffered the loss. We at MCATA remember them, we honor their service, sacrifice, and the sad and permanent loss their families have had to face since that day in January of 2002. We are their brothers and sisters, and surely, there but by the grace of God do we go, too.

From the Arlington National Cemetery website:

Arlington National Website Synopsis

Crew info (highlighted names = link):

Captain Matthew W. Bancroft, 29, of Shasta, California

Captain Daniel G. McCollum, 29, of Richland, South Carolina

Gunnery Sergeant Stephen L. Bryson, 35, of Montgomery, Alabama

Staff Sergeant Scott N. Germosen, 37, of Queens, New York

Sergeant Nathan P. Hays, 21, of Lincoln, Washington

Lance Corporal Bryan P. Bertrand, 23, of Coos Bay, Oregon

Sergeant Jeannette L. Winters, 25, of Du Page, Illinois


On a personal note, I remember hearing about the loss of aircraft 160021 shortly after it occurred in 2002. I was deeply moved, I especially felt so moved by the loss of LCpl Bertrand. I knew that I, a Lance Corporal myself more than two decades prior, had been a young VMGR-352 navigator, and that I, too, had sat in that seat on QB 160021 myself. Surely it could just as easily have been me. Why was it he and not me? Who was LCpl Bertrand? Was he any different from me? And I knew for all the differences between us, the similarities started and ended with VMGR-352 Navigator and being aboard that specific airplane, and they were undeniable.

I found out soon after that LtCol C. T. Parker was C.O. of VMGR-352. I'd known Terry when he was a 1Lt and I was a Warrant Officer in the mid-80's in 352. I wrote him a long letter expressing my feelings: feelings of sadness, solidarity, connection, and sympathy. The VMGR Memorial Monument project for me is an extension of what I felt that January in 2002, of all the things I wrote to him, expanded to all eight of our losses in operations now spanning nearly 62 years (it's 2023). I'm sure all of us, whether we were personally acquainted or not, understand the connection I feel to LCpl Bertrand, and have known and felt the same toward one or more of the fine forty-three Marines we are remembering forever with the VMGR Memorial Monument.

Semper fi,

Matty P




Comments

  • 04 Jan 2023 9:55 AM | Anonymous member
    I have many hours in 021 myself under both the Quebec Bravo and Raidr callsigns. Peabo and I flew many hours together. Not a day goes by I don't remember.
    Link  •  Reply
  • 13 Jan 2023 3:26 PM | Anonymous member
    We had just finished up the morning maintenenace meeting. Myself, Terry O"Neill, and Derek Dorsey were talking about who knows what when we were summoned to the SgtMaj's office. As we made our way towards the stairs we came across the CO, SgtMaj Gunn and the Base Chaplain talking in the hallway. SgtMaj just motioned for us to go to his office. Once there we overheard one of the adjudants talking to someone on the phone as he read off the list of crewmembers that were lost. I'll never forget how lost I felt nor how difficult it was to comprehend. It was a terrible day for all of us in Miramar and across the VMGR community...

    -Tony V
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