Body Of Missing Sailor With Michigan Ties Recovered From Damaged Destroyer
DETROIT (WWJ) - The remains of a 22-year-old Sailor with ties to Michigan have been found days following the collision of the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker.
The U.S. Navy Thursday morning confirmed that the body of Electronics Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Aaron Smith was recovered. He was one of ten sailors who had been missing since the accident at daybreak Monday, east of Singapore.
Although Smith is listed as a New Jersey resident, his mother lives in Milford, Michigan.
In a Facebook post, April Brandon said two naval officers visited her home Wednesday to tell her that Smith was missing at sea. Brandon called her son a great kid and a hero.
Kristina Renslow, who has known Smith since grade school, told WWJ it's hard to believe he is gone.
"I just talked to him probably a month ago and he was telling me, you know, 'Oh, we're going to Singapore,'...He was so excited and then I hear this. It's not right to me."
Renslow said Smith is best remembered as a man who always wanted to see everyone happy and smiling.
Thus far, none of the other sailors' bodies have been found.
Still missing are: Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Missouri Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Missouri; Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Abraham Lopez, 39, from Texas; Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Maryland; Electronics Technician 2nd Class Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, from Ohio; Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, from Maryland; Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Corey George Ingram, 28, from New York; Electronics Technician 3rd Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, from Connecticut; and Electronics Technician 3rd Class John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Texas.
Officials said U.S. Navy and Marine Corps divers will continue search and recovery efforts inside flooded compartments in the ship for the missing Sailors.
