Braxton Taylor
The Navy on Monday identified the two aviators who died when their EA-18G Growler jet crashed into the Washington state wilderness last week.
Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay “Miley” Evans, a naval flight officer, and Lt. Serena “Dug” Wileman, a naval aviator, both 31 years old and from California, died on Oct. 15 when their aircraft crashed near Mount Rainier, setting off a days-long, search-and-rescue mission.
The service described the two women as “trailblazing” aviators in a press release on Monday, and the cause of the deadly crash remained under investigation. They were decorated combat veterans who distinguished themselves during their squadron’s recent deployment to the Red Sea aboard the aircraft USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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The two sailors were assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 130, also known as the “Zappers,” which is based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. A Navy official confirmed to Military.com that the remains of the two sailors have been recovered.
The Navy, in a broader statement released alongside their names, called Evans and Wileman “role models, trailblazers, and women whose influence touched countless people on the flight deck and well beyond” and that while in the Red Sea, “they were involved in the most dynamic combat action in defense of the strike group and freedom of navigation since World War II.”
The Navy noted that Evans and Wileman “often flew together,” and they shared a close bond that “reached well beyond the cockpit.”
Evans joined the Navy in 2014 after completing a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at the University of Southern California and first served in Electronic Attack Squadron 136, beginning in 2017.
In 2023, she was chosen to take part in an all-female Super Bowl flyover that the Navy used to commemorate 50 years of women flying in the Navy. However, the Navy stressed that the honor “was only one highlight in a notable career defined by high performance and distinction.”
Evans would go on to complete the 12-week “HAVOC” graduate-level course at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada — a course the Navy called the Top Gun of the Growler community — before becoming a Growler tactics instructor. She was later recognized as the 2024 Growler Tactics Instructor of the Year.
When Evans deployed with the Eisenhower, the Navy said that she “coordinated and executed multiple combat strikes into Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen, making her one of the few women to fly combat missions over land.”
According to information released by the Navy, Evans was awarded two Single Action Air Medals with Combat “C” “for her exceptional performance during strikes on Jan. 12 and 22, 2024” and three Strike Flight Air Medals for “her contributions to missions flown between Dec. 21, 2023, and March 29, 2024.”
She had also earned the Combat Action Ribbon, a Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal and a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal during her career.
Wileman joined the Navy in 2022 through the Officer Candidate School and, according to the Navy’s statement, met her husband, who is also a naval aviator, during flight school.
She reported to the Zappers in 2022, and when the squadron deployed in 2023, like Evans, she flew “multiple strikes into Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen.”
Wileman also led a “ground-based detachment” of Growlers to “expand the electronic attack capability in the U.S. Central Command” when the Eisenhower pulled into Souda Bay in Greece for a port visit, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joe Keiley told Military.com in an email.
While on the mission, the Navy said that Wileman exhibited “exceptional leadership” and that she oversaw “multiple flights in the defense of U.S. and coalition forces.”
The Navy’s statement went on to applaud Wileman’s calm and courage in recovering planes as a landing signal officer, even when the Eisenhower “was being targeted and the [carrier strike group] was under attack by Houthi terrorists.”
According to information released by the Navy, Wileman was awarded three Strike Flight Air Medals “for her role in combat operations between Dec. 17, 2023, and April 5, 2024.”
She had also earned the Combat Action Ribbon.
The commander of Carrier Air Wing 3, Capt. Marvin Scott, said in the statement that the two sailors “will be remembered for their tenacity, their outstanding contributions to the defense of others, and the positive energy they brought to naval aviation.”
“I have personally flown with both of these great Americans in both training and dynamic combat operations, and they always performed professionally and precisely,” Scott said before calling the pair “exceptional warriors” and adding that they “truly represent the best that naval aviation has to offer, and they will absolutely be missed.”
On Sunday, the Navy said that they would continue to “search the expansive area, recovering debris and planning for the long-term salvage and recovery effort,” and that they are investigating the cause of the crash.
The plane crashed on a steep and heavily wooded area east of Mount Rainier at an elevation of 6,000 feet, which meant that rescuers faced harsh terrain, cloudy weather and low visibility.
When the wreckage of the plane was finally located on Wednesday afternoon, the Navy said it needed the specialized mountaineering experience of the soldiers from 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), based at nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, to reach the site.
Related: Navy Growler Crash in Washington State Claimed the Lives of 2 Aviators, Service Says
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