Remembering the Life and Memory of...

Lt. John M. Snyder

Hometown: Milltown, NJ.
Died: October 30th, 1990, Operation Desert Shield.
Unit: Navy.
Incident: Information needed....

October 31, 1990|By MATHEW PAUST and CHARLES H. BOGINO Staff Writers

NORFOLK — Tuesday morning, Lt. John M. Snyder was in a place he didn't want to be - in a boiler room aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

Snyder had been "very, very apprehensive" about his assignment as an engineering officer on the 29-year-old amphibious assault ship, where he served as a main propulsion assistant, said a friend who has known Snyder since the two were sophomores at Villanova University.

Snyder, 25, was one of 10 sailors killed by steam that burst through a leak in the lines powering the ship, the Navy said late Tuesday.

He had begun his second Navy tour about a month ago, said Lt. j.g. Pete Burke. Burke, Snyder and a third college buddy were sharing a residence in Norfolk.