Updated w/Video Presser- Yoon Dong-Yun Who Lost His Family In F/A 18 Crash: “I Know He Did Everything He Could”
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Man Who Lost Family to Jet Crash Offers Thanks for Support, Prayers
A University City man who lost his family to a military jet crash that destroyed their home thanked the community today for its support and said he had “no hard feelings” for the pilot who ejected from the plane moments before the deadly accident.
Speaking in a halting words punctuated by long, grieving silences, Dong Yun Yoon told news crews near the ruins of the Cather Avenue home where the family had lived for several weeks that he wanted to “thank all the people who are praying for me and for my family.”
“And I heard they found one of my missing daughters (today), so I really thank the people who helped to find my family,” he said.
Killed in the crash of the F/A-18 Hornet on Monday was Yoon’s 36-year-old wife, Young Mi Yoon, daughters Grace, 15 months old, and 2-month-old Rachel, and his mother-in-law, Kim Suk Im, 60.
Emergency crews found the bodies of all the victims except Grace within hours of the midday accident, which destroyed two homes and damaged three others. Search personnel found the toddler’s body early this afternoon.
Yoon said he could not have imagined “such a horrible thing would have happened, especially right here, right (at) our house.”
“But I believe my wife and two babies and mother-in-law are in heaven with God,” he said. “And I know God is taking care of them.”
When Yoon, accompanied by his brother, sister, pastor and fellow members of Korean United Methodist Church, approached the charred remnants of his home this afternoon, he stopped and put a white handkerchief to his face, looking unsteady on his feet. His brother put his arms around him and appeared to be helping him stand upright.
Yoon told reporters he had gotten the news that the pilot involved in the crash had escaped harm.
“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” Yoon said. “I know he’s one of our treasures, for the country, and I … don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could.”
Yoon at times seemed overwhelmed by the enormity of the tragedy that had befallen him. “But I know there are many people who have experienced more terrible things. Please tell me how — how to do it.”
Yoon described his lost family with reverence.
“My wife — it was God’s blessing that I met her about four years ago, and we got married,” he said quietly. “She’s just such a lovely wife and mother, who always loves me, and (the) babies. I just miss her so much.”
He then mentioned his daughters and their ages.
“I cannot believe that they are not here right now,” he said.
Yoon’s mother-in-law had recently arrived from Korea “to take care of my babies,” he said.
“My father-in-law is coming tomorrow, and I don’t know what to tell him. I don’t know if he’ll ever forgive me.”
Before stepping away from the banks of cameras and microphones in front of him, Yoon expressed his thanks for those who have reached out to try to help him through his grief.
“There are many people who help me,” he said. “Our pastor, you know many people from our church, (the) police department, fire department — I really thank them.”
Jet Crash Victims Identified; 4th Body Found
Missing Child’s Remains Found In Destroyed Home
10News reporter Steve Fiorina has reported that authorities have located the body of the missing 1-year-old child in the rubble of a University City home destroyed by an apparently disabled Marine Corps jet fighter that crashed and burst into flames, killing three other family members.
The bodies of a woman, her infant daughter and the child’s grandmother were found in the home’s ruins Monday after the F/A-18D Hornet plunged to the ground just before noon near Cather Avenue and Huggins Street, about a mile northwest of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, officials said.
Authorities have not released the names of the dead, but members of a local Methodist church identified the younger woman as Young Mi Yoon, 36, her 2-month-old daughter as Rachel and her elder child as Grace.
Leaders of the congregation were unable to provide the name of Yoon’s mother, who was visiting from Korea to help care for the newborn baby.
The mother’s husband and father of the girls, Dong Yun Yoon, reportedly was at work at the time of the plane crash.
Crews resumed looking for the body of the missing toddler at daybreak with the help of search dogs, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
The aircraft, on a training mission off the carrier Abraham Lincoln, was ordered to fly to Miramar rather than return to the flattop after one of its engines failed.
The pilot, described as a lieutenant in his 20s, had been on a training flight and was heading back to base when the accident occurred.
Military officials blamed the crash on equipment malfunction.
“We don’t know exactly what was the cause of the problem he was having, and … we will be conducting a thorough safety investigation to find that out,” Marine Corps Col. Chris O’Connor told reporters Monday afternoon.
The crash and resulting blaze destroyed two homes — the Yoons’ house and the unoccupied residence next door — and damaged three others.
Jason Widmer, a contractor, was working in the neighborhood at the time of the crash and spoke to the pilot.
“He was a little shaken up,” Widmer said. “The first thing he said to me, even before he said, ‘I’m OK,’ he said, ‘I hope I didn’t kill anybody.’”
The lieutenant said one of the jet’s engines had gone out during his training mission and that the other one failed as he tried to make it back to MCAS Miramar for an emergency landing.
“He said he was powerless,” Widmer said. “He said he stayed with the bird as long as he could.”
Despite the jet’s low altitude when the pilot bailed out, his parachute deployed properly. The flier, whose name has been withheld, drifted into a tree and was briefly hung up in its branches, but he suffered no serious injuries.
He was taken to Naval Medical Center San Diego for observation.
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