Fort Myers man missing in Marine crash

Former military and school friends of a Fort Myers man missing in a helicopter crash off Hawaii say the Cypress Lake High School grad was a great friend and an outstanding Marine.

The U.S Marines Corp. said Cpl. Thomas Jardas, 22,  is among the 12 men aboard two helicopters, each carrying six Marines, that went down off Oahu's north shore late Thursday.

His sister, Haely Jardas, is the reigning Miss Washington, D.C.

The spokesman said it is not confirmed if the crafts crashed into each other.

Crews had discovered a life raft, but no one was on board.

A spokesman for the Jardas family in Lee County said they did not have a statement at this time.

On her Facebook page, Haely Jardas said: "My little brother was lost doing what he loved. He has always been and will always be my most important person."

A close friend and fellow Cypress Lake High School graduate, Ryan Mitnick, told The News-Press that Jardas was "an outstanding Marine" and a level-headed person.

"Tommy was the kind of guy everybody loved, You could not ask for a better best friend," he said.

Mitnick and another friend, Robert Maley of Fort Myers High School, and Jardas had decided to join the Marines together upon their graduation in 2011.

"He was such a genuine, kind-hearted person," Mitnick said. "Tommy and I were best friends since the beginning of high school. We both wanted to join the Marines."

All three joined the service under the buddy system and went through boot camp and further training before heading to separate postings.

While Jardas remained in the Marines, Mitnick, a field radio operator, and Maley, a heavy equipment operator, both served their tours of duty and have mustered out of the service. Mitnick now lives in Jacksonville and Maley in Pennsylvania.

"I would love for Tommy to be alive, part of me hopes that. But I sincerely doubt that," he said. However, he added: "if any one of those Marines have a chance of living and Tommy is with them, their chances have greatly improved.

Dennis Horn, a friend of Jardas from Cypress Lake, said the news of the crash and his missing buddy hit him hard Saturday night.

"I found out when I was watching a football game," he said. "My girlfriend call me and told me. I was shocked. I couldn't breathe."

Horn, currently in the Army and stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., said Jardas was one of those exceptional types of people who brightens up a room or situation just with his presence.

"He would walk into a room and everyone would get a smile," he said. "He always knew how to make you smile."

Horn said that despite the severity of the crash, friends and family are trying to stay positive and hope for the best.

Janelle Carstens, who also graduated from Cypress Lake high, knows that he was doing what he enjoyed.

"It was something he loved to do, flying on a helicopter," she said.

Carstens said that friends didn't want to believe the news that he might be dead.

"He was a joker," she said, always doing something to make you laugh or smile.

And another friend and fellow graduate of Cypress Lake High School, Cornelius Egan, posted a moving tribute to Jardas on his Facebook page on Sunday and urged fellow Cypress Lake alumni to pray for their missing former schoolmate.

Randall Henderson, mayor of Fort Myers, expressed his sorrow at the news.

"The city of Fort Myers has lost one of its own, Corporal Thomas Jardas, a man serving his country," he said. The mayor added that the city's love and prayers go out to Jardas' family and friends.

Sgt. Michael Lopez, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Marines in Fort Lauderdale, said the job that Jardas was doing was safe, despite the crash, and that safety is always a priority and a concern for those who fly and service the machines.

"I have been on a lot of different models of helicopters and they are very safe," he said.There is a protocol as to how long,' he said. "But they are still continuing to search for what happened."

Lopez also said that the southwest Florida area is a very patriotic area when it comes to recruits like Jardas, Mitnick and Maley.

"It is definitely a good area," he said. "People are very willing to serve their country."

He added that buddy enlistments, like Jardas and his friends, are also common.

"I joined with a close friend," he said.

The high surf warning that has complicated the search for 12 Marines who are missing after two helicopters crashed off Hawaii was expected to persist Sunday.

The waves dispersed the debris and complicated the search, which was expanded to include waters off Oahu's west coast. "It makes finding things incredibly difficult," Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Scott Carr said.

Rescuers battled waves up to 30 feet Saturday, but winds decreased to about 10 mph.

The U.S. Marines Corp released the names of the 12 missing crew members late Saturday. Though based in Hawaii, the Marines were from various states.

The Coast Guard was notified late Thursday of the crash by a civilian who saw the aircraft flying then disappear and a fireball. Someone else reported a flare in the sky, Carr said. It was not clear if the fireball and the flare were the same.

The Marines were alerted when the CH-53E helicopters carrying six crew members each failed to return to their base at Kaneohe Bay following a nighttime training mission. Hours later, a Coast Guard helicopter and C-130 airplane spotted debris 2 1/2 miles off of Oahu.

A Navy P-3 airplane was scouring the ocean, along with helicopters from the Coast Guard, Army, Navy and Honolulu police and fire departments. Two Navy warships and two Coast Guard cutters were on the scene. Honolulu lifeguards on personal watercraft were also looking.

The Coast Guard was keeping people out of a wide zone that spanned about 30 miles of shoreline, citing danger from debris. The zone extended from the shore to 8 miles off the coast.

National Weather Service meteorologist Derek Wroe said Saturday that the surf peaked Friday afternoon and was slowly declining.

A storm about 1,500 miles to the north and northwest of Oahu was sending large swells to the islands, he said.

The transport helicopters were part of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Known as Super Stallions, they are the U.S. military's largest helicopter, capable of carrying a light armored vehicle, 16 tons of cargo or a team of combat-equipped Marines, according to a Marine Corps website.

The Coast Guard initially reported that the choppers had collided, but Marine Capt. Timothy Irish said Friday that he did not know if the accident was a collision.

The helicopters normally carry four crew members, but this particular flight also carried one or two instructor trainers, Irish said. He did not know if they were teaching the crew or just observing.

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