ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BASE DARWIN, Australia -- A memorial service was held at the Main Chapel here July 28 to honor the life of Lance Cpl. Bryce Miller.
Miller, 19, was serving as a small arms technician for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212 during Southern Frontier 2003 when he drowned swimming in Wangi Falls at Litchfield National Park July 26.
More than 100 Marines currently deployed to Australia came to pay their respects to their fallen comrade.
"It's a sad day. I love all of the Marines as one of my own, and there are a lot of heavy hearts down here," said Lt. Col. Bruce Bright, VMFA-212 commanding officer, during his opening statement.
Miller, a Culver, Ore., native, was on an organized trip to the park with 15 other service members when he was separated from the group while they were swimming in the crowded pool. He was missing for about an hour before a snorkeler discovered his body.
"Lance Corporal Miller was doing everything that I asked him to do while he was on liberty. He was on an organized trip, and he utilized the buddy system," said Bright. "There really is no way to explain how something like this could happen."
After Bright's opening remarks, Chaplain Donald Troast gave the invocation, and Pfc. Preston Buchanan, VMFA-212 small arms technician, read a passage from the Bible and said a few words about his best friend.
"I have never met a Marine or man that was more true to heart than Bryce. He always had a smile on his face and would go out of his way to help anybody," said Buchanan.
After all of the service members said the Marines' Prayer in unison, Troast gave the benediction concluding the service.
"We lost a Marine, and that is a great loss, but the Lancers will continue to complete their mission because that is what Miller would have wanted us to do," said Bright.
The cause of the incident is still under investigation.