Yanky 72 & a Montana Perspective on the Marine Corps Museum

Have you ever noticed how the most important stories that you want to share can often take the longest amount of time to pass before you finally tell them? The easiest e-mails to reply to get a response right away, and then the ones that are important- you set aside and then wait far too long to reply to? Some pictures are too sacred or too important for a Facebook share or quick "like" on social media.

For over a week now, I've been wanting to tell our fellow Montanans about an event I had the honor of attending at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which is south of our nation's capital and not too far from the Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Back in 2017, I had just deployed on another tour in the Middle East- this time on the Arabian Peninsula. On the news the night before, I saw that a US Marine Corps KC-130 had crashed back in the US. The next morning, it came up in our command briefing as the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines were asked to remember the fallen. It couldn't have been Brendan's KC-130, I thought.

Later that day, we got word that my cousin Anna's husband Brendan was on that downed KC-130. His whole "Yanky72" crew and a team of Marine Special Operations Raiders were on board. There were no survivors.

It was just heartbreaking. Brendan was one of the most jovial guys you'd ever meet. He made the whole family laugh, and he knew how to make his mother in law blush. I had a 3 day weekend before I first deployed to the Middle East back in 2005, and got to spend a fun weekend hanging out with Anna and Brendan in Texas before heading to "the suck" of Western Iraq. He was just about to retire after more than 20 years of service. He wanted to retire back in Montana.

Back on Friday, June 7th- they dedicated a monument on the grounds of the National Museum of the Marine Corps to Yanky72 and all of the fallen air crews from within the Marine Corps Air Transport community.

Whether the loss of the crew goes back to the 1960s, or even just as recent as the "Yanky72" crash in 2017 and the loss of the "Sumo" crew in 2018, you could tell how fresh this loss continues to be for all of the loved ones left behind. They simply want to make sure their loved ones are not forgotten, and that their sacrifice is not forgotten. "Say their names."