WASHINGTON – Alexia and Bart Collart prepared for a difficult visit. Marines came to their home in Arlington, Virginia, last week to brief them on what caused the Osprey accident in Australia last year, which resulted in the deaths of his son and two other Marines.
But they didn’t expect to hear these words: Their son didn’t die in the accident.
Cpl. Spencer R. Collart safely escaped the aircraft. But the 21-year-old saw that the two Osprey pilots were missing. Despite the smoke and flames, he returned.
Collart “heroically re-entered the aircraft’s burning cockpit in an attempt to rescue the trapped pilots,” the Marine Corps official said. investigation in the accident found. “He died during this effort.”
For his valor, Collart will posthumously receive the service’s highest non-combat award: the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. It is an honor granted for acts of heroism that pose great risk to the soldier’s life.
It didn’t surprise his father that Spencer tried to save the pilots.
“I heard a song the other day. I’ve heard that many times,” said Bart Collart. “There was a quote in there, about how ‘the last thing on my mind was leaving you.’ And I think it was Spencer talking to me a little bit. He had no intention of leaving us. I think he thought he would come in and do the job.”
Spencer Collart was a 6-foot-2, goal-oriented Washington-Liberty High School lacrosse player who walked home on his 18th birthday with a surprise: He had just enlisted.
“The Marines are the top of the top. The best of the best,” Spencer told his mother Alexia Collart when she asked why. The Collarts were not a military family, but Spencer wanted to serve. And he wanted to fly.
He got his top pick and met his two best friends, Lance Cpl. Evan Strickland and corporal. Jonas Waser. They spent a year together training to become crew chiefs, enlisted Marines responsible for the aircraft and its passengers. There is a photo of them posing with the gang on April 22, 2022, the day they gained their wings.
They were flying the V-22 Osprey, which functions both as a plane and a helicopter. But it is an aircraft that has a troubled history and four fatal accidents in two years.
In June 2022, Strickland was killed along with four other Marines in a training accident in California. Collart served as pallbearer. He kept in close contact with Strickland’s family, calling to check on them, talking to them on the anniversary of the crash and reading the crash investigation report cover to cover, said Strickland’s mother, Michelle.
“He really wanted to understand,” she said.
When Spencer’s unit deployed to Australia in April 2023, he asked his mother if he could give Michelle Strickland her number so they could text each other.
“He had the vision to connect me with Michelle. I don’t know if he was worried or worried. I suspect maybe so,” said Alexia Collart.
Still, Spencer flourished in his role. He took on difficult jobs that no one wanted, such as packing the unit’s plane before leaving. His squad kept showing up with more equipment, so he kept unpacking and repacking everything, over and over again.
By the fourth attempt, Spencer was “red and black, just covered in grease and sunburn,” his commander told Bart Collart. Spencer earned a first-class ticket to Australia for his efforts.
On the Osprey, Spencer spent most of the flight in the “tunnel,” the area just behind the pilot and copilot, learning from them, with the goal of becoming a pilot. When Spencer’s personal belongings arrived after his death, Bart Collart found his son’s Marine Corps camouflage cap, known as a cape. He put it on and the metal poked his forehead.
Spencer attached a second lieutenant’s gold “butter stick” and a set of pilot’s wings to the sash.
“He put this here to remind himself, every time he put his hat on, of his next goal,” Bart Collart said. “He was totally involved. He did the same, said what he said and he just loved it so much.”
On August 27, 2023, two Marines knocked on Collart’s door.
Spencer Collart’s Osprey crashed during an Australian military exercise, killing him, Captain Eleanor LeBeau and the aircraft’s commander, Major Tobin Lewis. For months, that was all his parents knew. Then, last week, the Marines returned to report his findings.
Seconds after the Osprey hit the ground, the aircraft filled with smoke and flames. Collart was standing in the tunnel as the plane crashed. Most of the 23 soldiers on board escaped through the back, including a commander who told investigators he saw Collart escape through a side door.
Later, a local team found Collart’s tether – which he would use to attach himself to the Osprey and move around during the flight – intact outside the aircraft.
But not everyone managed to get out. The pilots were still inside. The Osprey hit nose first and they were trapped.
Collart returned. Investigators believe he may have freed Lewis from his restraints before he succumbed.
Collart “thought the world” of Lewis and LeBeau, said Bart Collart. He believes Lewis’ last-minute maneuver to level the plane as it fell right side down helped the troops in the rear survive.
The fourth member of the flight crew, Cpl. Travis Reyes has been at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for the past year, recovering from serious injuries. Saturday marked the first time he flew to his parents’ house in Maryland.
Spencer’s family met Waser for the first time at the funeral. This time it was Waser who donned the blue dress to serve as pallbearer and escort her best friend’s remains from Dover Air Force Base to Arlington National Cemetery.
Spencer’s younger sister, Gwyneth Collart, felt instant chemistry. Her parents saw it too.
“As soon as I met him, I thought, this is not the time or the place to fall in love,” Gwyneth Collart said of Waser. “Grief will never be easy, but he made grieving a little more comfortable. And he just, I mean, he took my breath away.”
Months later, Waser asked his father for Gwyneth’s hand.
“You guys told me Marines work fast and you weren’t kidding,” Bart Collart said, laughing.
Gwyneth Collart and Waser were married on July 6 in Arlington and held their reception at Top of the Town, a terraced ballroom overlooking Arlington National Cemetery. They were able to see the section where Spencer was buried, and Gwyneth pinned her brother’s portrait to her bouquet.
“I think Spencer knew what I needed and what my family needed after this, and it looks like I got exactly what I needed to get through this,” Gwyneth Collart said.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
