DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — The Department of Defense has identified the six American airmen killed when a U.S. Air Force military transport plane crashed in eastern Afghanistan.
The airmen were identified Saturday as: Capt. Jonathan Golden, 33, of Camarillo, California; Capt. Jordan Pierson, 28, of Abilene, Texas; Staff Sgt. Ryan Hammond, 26, of Moundsville, West Virginia; Senior Airman Quinn Johnson-Harris, 21, of Milwaukee; Senior Airman Nathan Sartain, 29, of Pensacola, Florida; and Airman 1st Class Kcey Ruiz, 21, of McDonough, Georgia.
Golden, Pierson, Hammond and Johnson-Harris were based at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. Sartain and Ruiz were based at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.
Also killed: five civilian passengers and an unknown number of people on the ground.
The cause of the early Friday crash remains under investigation.