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Former Queens resident among Marines dead in Florida crash

By Tom Momberg

A former Queens resident was among the seven Marines who died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash off Florida, the U.S. Marine Corp. announced last Friday.

Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn, 33, served in the U.S. military for 12 years, enlisting shortly after his family immigrated to Queens from Ireland in 2002, Marine Corps officials said.

The Camp LeJeune, N.C.-based sergeant is survived by his wife Destiny and their daughter Laliane, 1, who live in Holly Ridge, N.C., according to a biography released by the corps.

Among Flynn’s decorations were Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals with Valor, the Bronze Star with Valor and a Combat Action Ribbon.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash that took Flynn’s life occurred March 10, off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. The helicopter went down in thick fog near the Santa Rosa Sound during a routine training exercise that involved water insertion and extraction techniques, officials said.

The cause of the crash still has not been determined.