Stennis remembers four Aviators.

In August, S-3B Vikings flew in the missing-man formation over John C. Stennis (CVN 74) as a 21-gun salute sounded across the flight deck during a memorial service for four Naval Aviators. More than 1,000 officers and enlisted personnel assembled on the flight deck, right, to remember four shipmates who were lost when their S-3B Viking crashed in the western Pacific.

LCdr. Scott Allen Zellem, Lts. Patrick Sean Myrick and James Joseph Pupplo and AT2 Joshua Brent Showalter were assigned to Sea Control Squadron 35, NAS North Island, Calif., when their aircraft impacted Kita Iwo Jima, an uninhabited island located approximately 39 nautical miles north of Iwo Jima, on 10 August.

"We remember these four men as men of virtue, pride and commitment. We remember them as larger than life, yet as humble as they were brave. I remember them as one team who chose to offer themselves for a simple, but noble purpose: to serve," said RAdm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the Stennis carrier strike group, during the ceremony. "I offer my profound gratitude to the families who shared their sons, their husbands, their brothers and their fathers with us." The ceremony concluded with sailors playing "Taps" over the ship's silent deck.

By Lt. Corey Barker, John C. Stennis (CVN 74) Public Affairs