WASHINGTON (AP) — Alexia and Bart Collart were bracing for a tough visit. Marines came to their home in Arlington, Virginia, last week to brief them on the causes of the Osprey attack. Crash in Australia Last year, this resulted in the death of her son and two other Marines.

However, they had not expected these words: “Your son did not die in the crash.”

Cpl. Spencer R. Collart had safely exited the plane. But the 21-year-old saw that the two Osprey pilots were missing. Despite the smoke and flames, he climbed back in.

Collart “heroically entered the burning cockpit of the aircraft to rescue the trapped pilots,” the Marine Corps’ official statement said. Investigation in the crash. “He died during this operation.”

For his bravery, Collart was posthumously awarded the armed forces’ highest non-combat award: the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. This award is given for heroic actions in which the soldier’s life was at stake.

It didn’t surprise his father that Spencer tried to save the pilots.

“I heard a song the other day. I’ve heard it a lot,” Bart Collart said. “There was a quote in there that said ‘the last thing on my mind was leaving you.’ And I think that was Spencer talking to me a little bit. He had no intention of leaving us. I think he thought he was going to go in and get the job done.”

Spencer Collart was a determined, 6-foot-2, beaming Washington-Liberty High School lacrosse player who came home on his 18th birthday with a surprise: He had just committed.

“The Marines are the best of the best. The best of the best,” Spencer told his mother, Alexia Collart, when she asked him why. The Collarts were not a military family, but Spencer wanted to serve. And he wanted to fly.

He got his preferred assignment and met his two best friends, Lance Cpl. Evan Strickland and Cpl. Jonah Waser. They spent a year training to become crew chiefs, Marines in charge of the aircraft and its passengers. There is a photo of them posing with their class on April 22, 2022, the day they received their wings.

They flew the V-22 Osprey, which served as both Airplane and a helicopterBut it is an aircraft with a turbulent history and four fatal accidents in two years.

In June 2022, Strickland was killed along with four other Marines in a Training accident in CaliforniaCollart served as pallbearer. He stayed in close contact with Strickland’s family, calling to check on them, Facetimed them on the anniversary of the accident and reading the accident investigation report from cover to cover, Strickland’s mother, Michelle, said.

“He really wanted to understand,” she said.

When Spencer’s unit deployed to Australia in April 2023, he asked his mother if he could give Michelle Strickland her number so they could text each other.

“He had the foresight to put me in touch with Michelle. I don’t know if he was concerned or worried. I suspect maybe he was,” Alexia Collart said.

Still, Spencer thrived in his role, taking on tough tasks that no one wanted, like packing the unit’s plane before deployment. His squadron kept arriving with more equipment, so he kept unpacking and repacking it.

By the fourth attempt, Spencer was “red and black, covered in grease and sunburn,” his commander told Bart Collart. Spencer received a first-class ticket to Australia for his performance.

In the Osprey, Spencer spent most of the flight in the “tunnel,” the area directly behind the pilot and co-pilot, learning from them with the goal of becoming a pilot himself. When Spencer’s personal belongings arrived after his death, Bart Collart found his son’s Marine Corps camouflage cap, known as “Cover.” He put it on and metal struck him in the forehead.

Spencer had pinned a lieutenant’s gold “butter bar” and a pair of pilot’s wings to the ribbon.

“He put it in here to remind himself of his next goal every time he put his hat on,” Bart Collart said. “He was all in. He walked the talk, he talked the talk, and he just loved it so much.”

On August 27, 2023, two Marines showed up at the Collarts’ door.

Spencer Collart’s Osprey crashed during an Australian military exercise, killing him, Captain Eleanor LeBeau and the aircraft’s commander, Maj. Tobin Lewis. For months, that was all his parents knew. Then, last week, the Marines returned to share their findings.

Seconds after the Osprey hit the ground, the plane filled with smoke and flames. Collart had been standing in the tunnel when the plane crashed. Most of the 23 soldiers on board were able to escape through the rear, including a commander who told investigators he saw Collart escape through a side door.

A team on the ground later found Collart’s tether – which he used to hold on to the Osprey and move around during the flight – undamaged outside the aircraft.

But not everyone made it out. The pilots were still inside. The Osprey had crashed nose first and they were stuck.

Collart backed away. Investigators believe he may have freed Lewis from his restraints before he succumbed.

Collart “thought highly” of Lewis and LeBeau, Bart Collart said. He believes Lewis’ last-minute maneuver to straighten the plane as it crashed right side down allowed the troops in the rear to survive.

The fourth member of the flight crew, Cpl. Travis Reyes, has been recovering from serious injuries at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for a year. On Saturday, he was able to fly home to his parents in Maryland for the first time.

Spencer’s family met Waser for the first time at the funeral. This time, it was Waser, dressed in a blue dress uniform, who acted as a pallbearer and accompanied his best friend’s remains from Dover Air Force Base to Arlington National Cemetery.

Spencer’s younger sister, Gwyneth Collart, immediately sensed the chemistry between them. Her parents noticed it too.

“When I met him, I thought, this is not the time or place to fall in love,” Gwyneth Collart said of Waser. “Grieving is never going to be easy, but he made grieving a little more comfortable. And he just took my breath away.”

Months later, Waser asked her father for Gwyneth’s hand in marriage.

“You told me the Marines work fast, and you weren’t kidding,” Bart Collart said, laughing.

Gwyneth Collart and Waser were married in Arlington on July 6 and held their reception at Top of the Town, a ballroom with a terrace overlooking Arlington National Cemetery. They were able to see the part where Spencer was buried, and Gwyneth pinned her brother’s portrait to her bouquet.

“I think Spencer knew what I and my family needed after this, and I feel like I got exactly what I needed to get through it,” said Gwyneth Collart.