Marine Corps Plane Crash: The 16 Victims

 The 15 Marines and one sailor who were killed in the crash of a KC-130T this week, from left to right. First row: Maj. Caine M. Goyette; Capt. Sean E. Elliott; Gunnery Sgt. Mark A. Hopkins; Gunnery Sgt. Brendan C. Johnson. Second row: Staff Sgt. Joshua Snowden; Sgt. Owen J. Lennon; Sgt. Julian M. Kevianne; Cpl. Daniel I. Baldassare. Third row: Cpl. Collin J. Schaaff; Staff Sgt. William Kundrat; Staff Sgt. Robert H. Cox; Sgt. Talon R. Leach. Fourth row: Sgt. Chad E. Jenson; Sgt. Joseph J. Murray; Sgt. Dietrich A. Schmieman; Petty Officer Second Class Ryan Lohrey.

Credit...United States Marine Corps CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — There were 16 of them, ranging from a major down to two corporals. They had collectively served nearly three dozen deployments, including 22 to Afghanistan and six to Iraq. Some were married and had children; others were just a few years beyond boot camp.

The United States military on Friday publicly identified the 15 Marines and one sailor who died on Monday when their transport plane crashed into the rugged farmland of the Mississippi Delta, one of the worst military aviation accidents of recent years.

On Friday, the military’s private grief entered its public phase, as Col. Steven J. Grass, deputy commander of Marine Special Operations Command, stood outside his headquarters here and crisply announced the ranks, names and hometowns of the men.

“Our command is a tight-knit community,” said Colonel Grass, his own dog tags sandwiched into the tan laces of his left boot, as the boom of rifle training echoed in the distance. “As a team and as a family, we’re going to pull together and see this through.”CAPT. SEAN E. ELLIOTT His call sign was “Puffin,” and as a child he imagined himself behind the controls of C-130s. He was the co-pilot during the flight. His father recalled to The San Diego Union-Tribunethat Captain Elliott, 30, would carry a model of one of the enormous planes to bed when he was young. On Monday, he was a pilot of the plane that crashed, a KC-130T, one of many variants of the C-130.

MAJ. CAINE M. GOYETTE He was the highest-ranking Marine on the flight and had been in the military since 1994. The pilot on the day the plane went down, he was an aircraft commander who served three overseas deployments, the most recent of which ended in 2014.

GUNNERY SGT. MARK A. HOPKINS A Marine from Chesapeake, Va., he was “one of the calmest, most easygoing, zen people in any walk of life,” said Russ Hardin, a former Marine sergeant who served as a navigator in the squadron. “He didn’t know how not to be a friend,” Mr. Hardin said, recalling that Sergeant Hopkins preferred fishing, hiking, snorkeling and scuba diving to the barhopping habits of other troops posted to Japan.

GUNNERY SGT. BRENDAN C. JOHNSONSergeant Johnson, 46, was approaching the end of his career and was planning retirement and a possible move to Montana, his wife’s home state. His father said that the sergeant had joined the Marines after studying fine arts in Vermont, and that his grandfather and father-in-law were military veterans.