{"id":46916,"date":"2026-06-25T03:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T03:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/46916\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T03:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T03:17:07","slug":"us-civilian-who-died-snorkeling-on-okinawa-was-air-force-veteran-from-alaska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/46916\/","title":{"rendered":"US civilian who died snorkeling on Okinawa was Air Force veteran from Alaska"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mb2-plus4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626FATAL-FOLOphoto01.jpg\" alt=\"A green sign with a white frame stands in grass next to a dirt path running along a fence and leading to a beach seen in the background. The sign has white lettering in English and Japanese warning swimmers about dangerous conditions.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"default-font lh-default ma0 mh3 mt0 pb3\">\n\t\t\t\tA sign warns swimmers of dangerous conditions at Odo Coast in Itoman city, Okinawa, on June 25, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden\/Stars and Stripes)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">A U.S. civilian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/branches\/air_force\/2026-06-23\/snorkeling-drowning-kadena-okinawa-22060037.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">who died Wednesday while snorkeling<\/a> at a popular beach in southern Okinawa was an Air Force veteran deployed to Kadena Air Base from Alaska, the 18th Wing announced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">James J. Chopik, 48, was a general schedule employee assigned to the 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, 3rd Wing, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, according to an 18th Wing news release Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">F-22 Raptors with the squadron have been deployed to Kadena on rotational duty since early May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u201cJames dedicated more than a two-decade career to the U.S. Air Force, then remained in service to our nation and military as a civilian,\u201d squadron commander Lt. Col. Rich Williams said in the release. \u201cHe was an exemplary colleague and friend and a role model to the men and women in his unit. His character, professionalism and commitment to others left a lasting impact and will be sorely missed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Chopik was snorkeling with coworkers at Odo Coast in Itoman when he went missing Wednesday, according to the wing\u2019s release. He was snorkeling with three others at the time, according to the Japan coast guard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">A bystander reported to the coast guard at 4:36 p.m. that a swimmer, identified as Chopik, was swept away by waves. He was spotted unconscious on the shore by an Okinawa Prefectural Police helicopter about 1\u00bd hours later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">He was recovered by the Itoman City Fire Department and the coast guard. His heart had stopped and he was not breathing at the time of rescue, according to the coast guard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Chopik\u2019s coworkers and emergency responders provided treatment as he was transported to YuuAi Medical Center in Tomigusuku city, the wing said. He was pronounced dead at 6:58 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u201cWe are deeply saddened by the loss of James, who served our nation with distinction,\u201d Brig. Gen. John Gallemore, 18th Wing commander, said in the release. \u201cOn behalf of Team Kadena, I offer our deepest sympathies to his loved ones and to all those who shared the privilege of serving by his side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Anyone impacted by Chopik\u2019s death is strongly encouraged to seek assistance from unit leadership, base chaplains or medical professionals, the release said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sign warns swimmers of dangerous conditions at Odo Coast in Itoman city, Okinawa, on June 25, 2026.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32629,8,1428,32628,32631,32325,32321,32630,32323,162,32627,32322],"class_list":["post-46916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-okinawa","tag-drowning-death","tag-japan","tag-kadena-air-base","tag-kadena-air-base-death","tag-kadena-air-base-drowning-death","tag-kadena-air-base-snorkeling-death","tag-kadena-death","tag-kadena-drowning-death","tag-kadena-snorkeling-death","tag-okinawa","tag-okinawa-death","tag-snorkeling-death"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}