Identities of Marines Killed in Vehicle Accident Disclosed

Two Marines at Camp Pendleton who were killed while test-driving an armored vehicle were identified Thursday by the Marine Corps.

Cpl. David A. Holland, 25, of Rocky Mount, Va., and Lance Cpl. Robert W. Deane, 19, of Silver Springs, Md., died shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday while they were driving their eight-wheeled LAV-25, a light-armored vehicle topped with a 25-millimeter gun, a Marine Corps spokesman said.

Lance Cpl. Jason L. Church, 18, of Federal Way, Wash., was also injured in the accident, Gunnery Sgt. Dave Marriott said.

Church had multiple facial cuts and a broken wrist, Marriott said. He was treated and released from the Naval Hospital on the base Thursday.

The three were the only crewmen in the vehicle when it crashed about halfway down an 800-foot embankment near Aliso Canyon off of Las Pulgas Road, he said.

All three were veterans of the Persian Gulf War and members of the 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Division, Marriott said.

Holland and Deane were not married and are survived by their parents, he said.

Theirs were the fifth and sixth fatalities involving training at or near Camp Pendleton in the past three months.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated, Marriott said.