Funeral Procession For Fallen Marine Planned: Riverside County

RIVERSIDE, CA — The remains of a U.S. Marine who was among nine service members killed when their amphibious craft went down in the waters around San Clemente Island will be returned home to Riverside Tuesday, and a roadside salute is planned along the route the casket will be carried.

Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, drowned on July 30 when the 26-ton vessel bearing him and other members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit sank while on a maritime training mission.

According to the nonprofit Honoring Our Fallen, Villanueva's casket will arrive between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday at Ontario International Airport, where a private plane-side service is scheduled for loved ones, after which the flag-draped casket will be taken to Pierce Brothers Crestlawn Mortuary on Arlington Avenue in Riverside.

The procession is slated to leave the airport about 4 p.m., and anyone who wants to pay respects along the route to the mortuary is encouraged to do so.

Honoring Our Fallen founder Laura Herzog said the procession will take Interstate 10 east from the airport, then turn south on Interstate 15 and exit onto Sixth Street in Norco. On Sixth, the procession will head east until reaching California Avenue, where it will go north until the intersection of California and Arlington, where the procession will go east again, traveling less than a mile to the mortuary.

All ceremonies at the mortuary will also be private.

According to a GoFundMe page established for Villanueva's family, the Marine was committed to his service.

"I served with Nova with FAST Co. Bravo Co. 4th plt and deployed to Bahrain with [Villanueva]," the page read. "He constantly exemplified what hard work and what ‘Right’ looks like as Marine. Nova was more than kind-hearted and always was cracking jokes. These are some things that he should be remembered for forever."

According to military officials, Villanueva and the other men were involved in a training exercise during which their craft was maneuvering to rendezvous with a ship 80 miles west of Encinitas. For unknown reasons, the boat foundered roughly a mile off San Clemente Island, going down in waters about 400 feet deep. Along with eight Marines, a U.S. Navy sailor perished.

Villanueva and Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18, of Corona were the only two from Riverside County. Baltierra was a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU; there was no word on his funeral arrangements.

In a statement published on CBS, Baltierra's mother said, "My one and only son, who radiated positivity and expressed his wonderful smile to everyone he met.”

On Aug. 12, the remains of all the men were transferred from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to Dover Air Force Base, the Marine Corps announced.

Military pallbearers escorted each of the late servicemen's caskets aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 bound for the Delaware base for preparation for burial, after which they were released to their families for final arrangements.

The mishap involving the amphibious troop-transport vehicle that the Camp Pendleton-based personnel were aboard remains under investigation. Seven other members of the crew survived.

The military recovered all the victims' bodies from the sea floor on Aug. 7. The victims transferred to Dover AFB were:
-- Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18, of Corona;
-- Lance Cpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello;
-- Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin;
-- Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, a Navy hospital corpsman 3rd class;
-- Pfc. Jack-Ryan Ostrovsky, 20, of Bend, Oregon;
-- Cpl. Wesley A. Rodd, 22, of Harris, Texas;
-- Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 18, of Portland, Oregon; and
-- Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside.

The body of Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 19, of New Braunfels, Texas, who also died in the incident, was transferred from San Diego to the Air Force installation in Delaware.

Read more:

• Remains Of Marines, Sailor Recovered After Training Accident
• Sunken AAV Found, Military Working To Recover Remains Of Troops
• Officials ID Marines, Sailor Presumed Dead In Training Accident
• CA Capitol Flags At Half-Staff In Honor Of Fallen Service Members

—City News Service contributed to this report.