A United States Naval officer of Nigerian descent, Michael Aregbesola has died in the Red Sea after falling overboard while conducting operations.
According to a statement by the U.S. Navy on Saturday, the office was lost overboard from USS Mason (DDG 87) while operating in the Red Sea on March 20, 2024.
The statement read, “Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Oriola Michael Aregbesola, assigned to the “Swamp Foxes” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 74, was deployed with a detachment aboard Mason, which has been operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet since November.
“His outstanding performance prior to and during deployment went well beyond aircraft maintenance; he truly saw and valued every member of the ship/air team. He will continue on in the heart of every Swamp Fox and our brothers and sisters in the IKE Carrier Strike Group. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with his family.
“Mason and HSM-74 are part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and currently deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.”
Aregbesola was enlisted in the Navy in July 2020 and began his service at HSM-74 in December of the same year.
His journey to joining the Navy followed a period of unemployment lasting several years, a struggle he candidly shared in writing shortly after his recruitment in October 2020.
“I was jobless for so many years, my country of birth (Nigeria, now renounced) failed me, but the US Navy saw potential in me and made me a fine ass sailor, working on jet engines,” he wrote on Twitter (now X).
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