Marine recruit dies at Parris Island while taking physical fitness test
Marine Pfc. Noah Evans was taking his final physical fitness test at the time of his death
Marine Pfc. Noah Evans, 21, died on April 18 at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, Corps officials have announced.
Evans, who was assigned to Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, was taking his unit’s final physical fitness test on the 55th day of the training cycle at the time of his death, said Maj. Philip Kulczewski, a Parris Island spokesman.
The cause of Evans’ death is under investigation, a Parris Island news release says. Evans was originally from Decatur, Georgia.
“Our deepest condolences go out to Noah’s family and to the Marines and staff of Mike Co,” Parris Island tweeted on Wednesday.
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Deaths during boot camp are rare given that the Marine Corps trains tens of thousands of recruits each year. Three other people have died at Parris Island in recent years, including Pvt. Anthony Munoz, 21, who died in September 2021 after falling from a balcony, according to the Island Packet newspaper.
Pfc. Dalton Beals died in June 2021 while taking part in The Crucible, a 54-hour training event that marks the culmination of boot camp. An investigation into the incident determined that Beals’ death was “likely avoidable.”
Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley, a Parris Island drill instructor, was subsequently charged with negligent homicide for not properly supervising Beals and other recruits and making them do extra physical training even though the temperature was in the 90s. One recruit became so overheated that his core body temperature was 107.1 degrees before corpsmen began to cool him down.
Smiley’s trial is scheduled to take place between June 19 and July 7, but those dates could change, Kulczewski told Task & Purpose.
Another Marine, Pfc. Brandon Barnish, died at Parris Island in September 2021 several months after graduating from recruit training, according to the Island Packet. Barnish was recovering from an injury before starting the next phase of training when he died.
Separately, Pfc. Javier Pong died on the West Coast in September 2022 while conducting training at Camp Pendleton California. Pong was in the eighth week of the training cycle at the time of his death.
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