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The Coast Guard has suspended the search for survivors of the crash of a Barksdale B-52 off the coast of Guam.
Barksdale's 2nd Bomb Wing Commander Col. Robert Wheeler said at a news conference today that no one survived the crash.
The search is now a recovery operation to find the bodies of four crew members still missing, as well as wreckage of the bomber, the Coast Guard said.
The crew members have been identified as:
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Maj. Christopher Cooper, 33, a native of Austin, Texas, and the aircraft commander |
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Maj. Brent Williams, 37, of Norman, Okla., an instructor navigator |
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Capt. Michael Dodson, 31, the co-pilot |
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1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd, 26, the navigator |
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1st Lt. Robert Gerren, 32, of Gladwin, Mich., the electronic warfare officer |
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Also on board was Col. George Martin, an Air Force physician who was deputy commander of the medical group at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam |
Two bodies from the six-member crew were found shortly after the crash.
The B-52 was in Guam as part of the U.S. rotation of bomber crews in the Pacific. The unarmed bomber had been on a training mission and was making a swing around the island from Andersen Air Force Base for a celebratory fly-over of a parade when it crashed Sunday night, Barksdale time.
A board of officers is investigating the cause of the crash.
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