Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — A Navy SEAL who died during a parachute demonstration on Sunday was honored at the Memorial Day service held at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.
The Navy SEAL’s parachute failed to open properly during a jump that was part of a Fleet Week event at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. He landed in the Hudson River where the Coast Guard and the Jersey City Fire Department marine unit responded immediately and brought the Navy SEAL to the Jersey Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:10 p.m. Sunday.
“This young special officer’s death is an all-too-real reminder of the hazards our men and women face when building the skills necessary to defend this great nation,” the commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces, Admiral Phil Davidson said during the ceremony on Monday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and loved ones, and his team this Memorial Day.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio asked for a moment of silence for the fallen soldier, who was part of the U.S. Navy’s elite parachute team, the Leap Frogs.
“But unfortunately, as we know, as Fleet Week ends, it ends with deep, deep sorrow,” De Blasio said. “And I know on the behalf of all eight and a half million New Yorkers, we are feeling sadness, we are feeling sympathy and solidarity with the family of the Navy SEAL we lost just yesterday. We’re feeling sympathy not just for his birth family but for his larger family — the men and women of the U.S. Navy.”
De Blasio added, “It’s a shock to see this loss, but our solidarity with the SEALs is strong.”
The fallen service member’s name is being withheld until the family has been notified, the Navy said in a statement on Sunday.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, and I ask for all of your prayers for the Navy SEAL community who lost a true patriot today,” said Rear Adm. Jack Scorby, the commander of the Navy’s mid-Atlantic region, in a statement yesterday.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.