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Marine’s body returned to Massachusetts

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 4, 2009 05:41 PM

Vincent DeWitt for The Boston Globe

The hearse carrying the body left the Massachusetts Military Reservation as a security guard saluted.

By Globe Staff

The remains of Captain Eric Jones, who was killed last week in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, arrived at the Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod today, then were carried in a solemn procession to a Cape Cod funeral home.

Jones, 29, of Westchester, N.Y., was assigned to a light attack helicopter squadron based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He was killed while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. The crash also killed Captain Kyle R. Van De Giesen, 29, of North Attleboro, Mass.

Jones, a 2004 graduate of Northeastern University, was a highly decorated Marine who had been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is survived by his loving parents, Cynthia and Kenneth, of Mashpee, the Yarmouth Police Department said in a statement.

Jones was killed in one of two helicopter crashes on Oct. 26 that killed 14 Americans, marking the deadliest day for the United States in Afghanistan in more than four years.

One helicopter went down after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing seven troops and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents. Jones was killed in the second incident, along with three others, when two Marine helicopters collided in flight before sunrise. Two other troops were injured. Authorities ruled out hostile fire as a cause in the collision.

A wake has been slated for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Chapman, Close, and Gleason Funeral Home in Mashpee. A funeral has been set for Saturday at the John Wesley United Methodist Church in Falmouth, followed by burial in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.