Marines’ Mount Fuji rescues bring relief, heartbreak, military honors

Four Okinawa-based Marines helped two struggling hikers down Mount Fuji, saving one woman but unable to prevent a Japanese man’s death. From left, 1st Lt. Isaac Lopez, Cpl. Jeremiah Barksdale and Cpl. Ryan Sotodavila pose with their Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medals at Camp Foster, Okinawa, Oct. 9, 2026. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes) Four Okinawa-based Marines helped two struggling hikers down Mount Fuji on consecutive days last month, saving one woman but unable to prevent a Japanese man’s death. Cpls. Jeremiah Barksdale and Ryan Sotodavila of 1st Marine Aircraft Wing helped a Hong Kong woman with an injured foot descend the Yoshida Trail on Sept. 5. The following day, 1st Lt.

Isaac Lopez, also with the wing, and 1st Lt. Ethan Wilson, of Combat Logistics Regiment 37, carried a 62-year-old Japanese man down another trail. Rescuers later found him dead. “He kept saying thank you,” Wilson said Friday, breaking into tears during an interview at Camp Kinser. “That bothered me. Because I felt like we could have done more.” Barksdale, Sotodavila and Lopez received Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medals on Oct. 9. Wilson will receive his later, 3rd Marine Logistics Group spokesman 1st Lt. Taiyo Tatara said by email Friday. Barksdale and Sotodavila encountered the woman crawling on her hands and knees that evening. Her younger brother was unable to help her,