MARIETTA, Ohio – Funeral arrangements are pending for a US Marine from Marietta who died, along with seven others, in a training accident in Nevada.
Lance Cpl. Josh Taylor, 21, was among the Marines killed Monday when a mortar shell exploded prematurely.
Eight others were injured when a 60mm mortar round exploded in a firing tube during a live-fire exercise at a remote base in Hawthorne, 140 miles southeast of Reno.
Taylor’s family says the 2010 graduate of Marietta High School was planning to get married in May.
The sprawling Hawthorne Army Depot is regarded as an ideal training site because its climate, elevation, and terrain are similar to much of Afghanistan.
A blanket suspension of 60mm mortar rounds for training purposes has been announced as an investigation into the incident continues, Brigadier Gen. Jim Lukeman said.
Lukeman says the Marines were in the middle of general training and weren’t getting ready for any type of deployment.