Senior Airman Drew Bellairs and a friend were swimming in an underwater cave in Guam on July 25, when Bellairs felt that he could not swim back to the cave's entrance, said 2nd Lt. Trisha I. Theisen, executive officer for the 185th Air Refueling Wing of the Iowa Air National Guard.
The friend swam out of the cave by himself so he could bring back SCUBA gear for Bellairs, an Iowa Air National Guardsmen who was on a temporary duty assignment to Guam, Theisen said. When the friend returned, Bellairs had drowned.
Bellairs, 21, is the third airmen who has drowned in July. The Air Force Safety Center did not record any drowning deaths for July 2014. Moreover, five airmen have drowned since May, compared with two drowning deaths during the same time period last year.
There is not one single reason for the increase in drowning deaths this year, said Bill Parsons, Air Force chief of ground safety.
"Statistics are dynamic when human behavior and external circumstances are involved, so mishap numbers rise and fall to some degree year to year," Parsons said in an email to Air Force Times.
For whatever reasons, it has been a deadly month for the Air Force, with airmen and families across the country left mourning.
"Our heartfelt condolences are with the Bellairs family and friends during this time of tragic loss," Col. Lawrence Christensen, commander of 185th Air Refueling Wing, said in a statement. "Senior Airman Bellairs was a great American who served his country with pride and honor."
Bellairs joined the Air National Guard in July 2012 and became an aircraft mechanic assigned as a crew chief for KC-135R refueling aircraft, according to the Iowa National Guard. During his time in the Air Force, he deployed to Japan for typhoon assistance.
He arrived at Anderson Air Force Base in June, assigned to the 506th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron on temporary duty, according to the 36th Wing. After being found unresponsive in Marbo Cave, he was taken to Guam Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"He is, and always will be, a great credit to the United States Air Force, the Air National Guard, and the 185th Air Refueling Wing with which he served. He will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him," Christensen said in the statement.
Tech Sgt. Lewis Barkley III drowned on July 4 while swimming of North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Cremation & Funeral Care by Danielle Andy Belusko, with permission of the Barkley family.
Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, also lost an airman this month when Tech Sgt. Lewis Barkley III, of the 437 Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, drowned while swimming off North Myrtle Beach on July 4.
"Tech. Sgt. Barkley was a husband, father, airman and individual of the finest caliber," Lt. Col. Todd C. Markwart, commander of the 437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said in a statement. "His passing is a tremendous loss to not only our squadron and wing, but to the Air Force. He was a very positive person and an inspirational influence on others."
Barkley, 36, joined the Air Force in 1997, according to the Air Force Personnel Center. He was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.
While he was not on leave at the time of his death, Barkley "was in compliance with the policies and associated instructions," said James Bowman, a spokesman for Joint Base Charleston. Barkley was buried outside of Pittsburgh.
Barkley's wife told police that about 15 minutes after he went into the ocean she began looking for him because she couldn't see him in the water, a police report says. She found Barkley on the beach surrounded by a crowd of people. Lifeguards performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Barkley, who was taken to a local emergency room, but he could not be revived.
The Horry County Coroner's Office ruled his death an accidental drowning.
Police notified the Air Force Office of Special Investigations that the coroner's office did not suspect drugs or alcohol were a factor in the drowning, said OSI spokeswoman Linda Card. The coroner's office also declined to perform an autopsy on Barkley after determining cause of death as an accidental drowning.
"He kept morale high despite the demanding nature of the responsibilities levied upon the maintainers in our squadron," Markwart said in the statement. "He loved his job and performed his duties in an outstanding manner. His dedication to his family and his faith took center stage above all else. Tech. Sgt. Barkley was a man whose memory embodies those virtues in life to which we all aspire."
Senior Airman Luis Diaz, was found unresponsive in a pool on July 3 in Davis, Calif.
Photo Credit: Air Force photo.
A third airman, Senior Airman Luis Diaz, was found unresponsive in a pool on July 3, Air Force officials said.
Diaz, 24, was assigned to the 860th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, California, said Capt. Kathleen Ice, a spokeswoman with Air Mobility Command. Police in Davis, California, could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the circumstances of Diaz' death.
"We are a close-knit family and when a tragedy like this occurs, every member of the Air Force feels it," Diaz' squadron commander Maj. Shane Wehunt said in a statement. "We share in the sorrow felt by his loved ones, and we will never forget the valuable contribution he made to his country and the impact he left on our organization. The tragic loss of Luis's life has been felt across Travis and the Air Force. We express our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Senior Airman Diaz."
