A grieving mother has shared her heartbreak after her US Navy sailor son, 19, tragically died when he fell from the USSS Arleigh Burke near Finland.
Nikki McKeithan Spearman took to Facebook and said that her son, David Dee, fell overboard from the guided-missile destroyer that was operating in the Baltic Sea on August 1.
According to reports, the search for his body has been called off after an onlooker noticed his remains in the water.
“Nothing can prepare you for this ….I am on a never ending rollercoaster climbing and falling and it want stop,” Spearman, who just recently loss her father, wrote.
“I can barely go to sleep and if I dare wake up it grabs me again and slings me all around. I want to run away and hold everyone close at the same time.”
She also said that she wanted to be in control but she kept on losing herself to anguish.
“I can smile when I think of Dee and breakdown in the second after,” she expressed.
“I know to be absent from the body as a believer of God is to be present with the Lord and it calms me for a moment or even a hour and then I feel this deep wrenching squeezing of my body and I cannot control any of my emotions or tears. I am overcome again with such deep sadness and emptiness of losing my son,” Spearman continued.
The grieving mom said that losing her father and son at the same time “is beyond any reasoning that my mind can conceive.”
The Navy confirmed in a statement that David had reported to the ship in April.
The ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Pete Flynn, said: “This bright, young man made an oversized, positive impact on Arleigh Burke. My entire crew’s thoughts and prayers are with Seaman Recruit Spearman’s family and friends. We offer our most sincere condolences for their loss.”
According to the United States Fleet Forces Command, Spearman officially enlisted on November 10 last year.
Cmdr. Richlyn Ivey, a spokeswoman for US 6th Fleet, said to Stars and Stripes that Spearman’s remains have yet to be recovered.
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