Military funeral honors and flyover for Arlington Marine killed in Australia

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The following was written by Kevin M. Hymel of Arlington National Cemetery. It was linked in yesterday’s Morning Notes but is republished this morning with permission. Cpl. Collart grew up in Arlington and graduated from Washington-Liberty High School.

Alexia Collart’s eyes filled with tears as she accepted the flag that had been draped over her son Marine Cpl. Spencer R. Collart’s casket. Her daughter Gweneth, sitting beside her, openly wept. Bart Collart, Cpl. Collart’s father, held back tears. The family’s grief spread to the crowd of more than 100 family and friends, who either dabbed their eyes or let the tears roll down their cheeks.

Twenty-one-year-old Cpl. Spencer died on Aug. 27, 2023, when the V-22 Osprey aircraft in which he was flying as the crew chief crashed in Australia during a training exercise. A month later, on Sept. 25, he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cpl. Collart always wanted to serve his country. At age 14, he finished the sentence on a school assignment, “When I grow up, I will…” with “be in the military.” A field trip to the National Museum of the Marine Corps convinced him to join the Corps. “He excitedly told us these amazing stories he’d learned of heroic Marines who defended our country,” Alexia Collart reminisced. Bart Collart agreed, recalling, “He was gung ho about the Marines even before he met with the recruiter.” He added that survivors from the crash that took his son’s life told him that the crew’s quick thinking and actions saved the lives of 20 Marines inside the Osprey. “They told us it was a heroic act.” That’s part of the reason the Collarts buried their son at Arlington National Cemetery. “People told us he was a hero,” said Collart, “and deserves to be buried at Arlington Cemetery.”

At the service, Father Andrew Merrow, the director of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, sprinkled dirt on Collart’s casket as he said, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” He then led the crowd in the Lord’s Prayer.

The service included a flyover by four V-22 Osprey aircraft, the firing of three volleys and the sounding of Taps. Navy Chaplain (Cpt.) Steven Walker gave final remarks, telling the crowd that “Cpl. Spencer Collart, United States Marine Corps, takes his rightful place here, among the ranks of our nation’s heroes.”

Then, a handful of enlisted Marines and one sailor, who had served with Cpl. Collart as Osprey crew chiefs, approached the casket. They had been invited by the Collart family. One by one, they placed their own Aircrew Wings on the casket and then pounded them in with their fists. One Marine paused and tapped the casket twice, as if he was patting a friend on the shoulder to say everything was going to be okay. The sailor, openly weeping, calmly placed both her palms on the casket and left them there for a few seconds.

Collart’s parents and sister each placed a rose atop the casket. Once they were placed, Alexia Collart hugged her father as they cried together.

When it was over, extended family and friends gathered around the family to offer support. As people hugged and spoke, Mr. Collart walked over to his son’s casket and placed a hand on it as if to say goodbye one last time.