Marines Call Off Search for Two Missing in Crash

The search for the bodies of two Marine Corps crewmen whose helicopter crashed in the ocean off Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands last week was called off Wednesday, military authorities said.

Cpl. Jeffrey E. Tokarz, 23, of Fountain Valley, who was crew chief, and 1st Lt. Andrew G. First of Corpus Christi, Tex., were presumed dead, said Staff Sgt. Terri Allen, a spokeswoman for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“We had had reconnaissance Marines out there diving on a full-time basis” without success, Allen said. “The official search has been called off.”

The body of the helicopter pilot, Capt. John E. Nesbit Jr., 27, of Corpus Christi, Tex., was recovered Saturday in 30 feet of water.

The CH-46E Sea Knight crashed May 11 in the afternoon during a post-maintenance flight, Marine officials said. The aircraft’s rotor blades had been removed recently and reinstalled, authorities have said.

Tokarz, who earlier in his career had flown with President Reagan from the White House aboard Marine Helicopter One, had received a presidential service badge during his assignment in Quantico, Va. He joined his current squadron in Hawaii at the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe Bay north of Honolulu in January.