A memorial service will be held later this week for a San Diego-based Marine Corps fighter pilot killed when the combat jet he was flying crashed during a training flight in San Bernardino County.
The ceremony honoring Maj. Richard Norton, a member of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232, will take place Friday morning at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, where he was stationed, according to the base’s public-affairs office.
On the night of July 28, the 36-year-old Marine aviator was piloting an F/A-18C Hornet that went down for unknown reasons during maneuvers near Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. The crash remains under investigation.
Norton was commissioned as a USMC second lieutenant in March 2005, according to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
The Arcadia native, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and made several rotations to Japan, was the recipient of a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a gold star.
—City News Service
