LEOMINSTER (CBS) – The body of Navy Captain Ross Reynolds, a 27-year-old Leominster pilot killed in a helicopter crash overseas, is expected to return to Massachusetts next week.
Reynolds will be buried in Massachusetts.
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He was one of four Marines killed last Friday when an Osprey helicopter crashed during a NATO training exercise in Norway.
The other Marines were identified as Capt. Matthew Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Gunnery Sargent James Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Corporal Jacob Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.
Captain Ross Reynolds of Leominster (Photo via Reynolds Family)
Reynolds, an Osprey pilot, joined the Marine Corps in May 2017. Last Friday’s training mission was unrelated to the war in Ukraine.
Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said the town is preparing to welcome Captain Ross as a hero.
Around 40 volunteers gathered at the Leominster Veterans Center on Friday evening. They handcrafted red, white and blue ribbons in honor of Captain Reynolds.
“Doing something like this and making ribbons is our way of giving back, isn’t it? It’s hard, for everyone in the community,” Mazzarella said. “It’s a community welded.”
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The ribbons will be tied to trees and lampposts leading to the soldier’s family home before he returns to Massachusetts.
“It’s the kind of stuff that will get them through the tough days,” said Mazzarella, who has known Reynolds since he was a young boy.
Leominster residents make ribbons in honor of Navy Captain Ross Reynolds (WBZ-TV)
The volunteers know that their sadness is only a fraction of what her family must be feeling.
“It’s heartbreaking. He’s a young boy who served in the military, did what he wanted to do to be a pilot. It just brings out emotions in me,” Deb Toivones said.
They hope the ribbons will subtly remind them that they are not grieving alone. “We are a community that helps each other,” Toivones said.
More than 100 of the ribbons have been handmade by the community in hopes that this will be the comfort Captain Reynolds’ family needs as this soldier returns home.
During his time with the Marines, Reynolds was decorated with the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
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The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
