>
A grief-stricken mom said ‘nothing can prepare you for this’ after her US Navy sailor son fell to his death from a guided-missile destroyer operating in the Baltic Sea.
Nikki McKeithan Spearman wrote the anguished Facebook post six days after her son David ‘Dee’, 19, fell overboard from the USS Arleigh Burke, near Helsinki, Finland, on August 1.
A search for his remains has since been called off, and further details as to the circumstances surrounding the deadly fall have not been revealed.
‘Nothing can prepare you for this ….I am on a never ending rollercoaster climbing and falling and it want stop,’ wrote the stricken mom, who also lost her father Dee recently.
‘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. I want to be in control of myself and then I loose myself to pure anguish at a drop of a word, song, picture or memory.’
‘I can smile when I think of Dee and breakdown in the second after,’ Spearman continued: ‘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.’
‘Losing my Dad & Dee at the same time Is beyond any reasoning that my mind can conceive. Knowing they are together is my only hope and peace left,’ she added.
Seaman Recuit David ‘Dee’ Spearman fell overboard a USS Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea on August 1 near Helsinki, Finland
David’s mother, Nikki McKeithan Spearman, shared a grieving post on Facebook on her 19-year-old son’s death on Saturday, saying ‘nothing can prepare you for this’
Spearman confirmed the teen’s death on August 3 to the Navy. The teen was from Etowah in western North Carolina’s Henderson County
Spearman’s family confirmed the North Carolina native was the sailor who had gone missing on August 3. The circumstances of how Spearman fell to his death remain unclear.
The Navy later said in a statement that David had reported to the ship in April after training in Illinois.
He had also just graduated from Naval boot camp earlier this year.
‘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,’ said Cmdr. Pete Flynn, the ship’s commanding officer.
WLOS-TV reports that Spearman was from Etowah in western North Carolina’s Henderson County.
The family told the TV station that several generations of his family had served in the Navy.
Spearman’s family had served in the Navy prior to the teen’s enrollment in November. Pictured: Spearman with his father (left) and mother (right)
Circumstances surrounding how exactly Spearman fell overboard are unclear. Pictured: The USS Arleigh Burke
Spearman had been officially enlisted on November 10, 2021, according to a statement from the United States Fleet Forces Command.
A search effort near Helsinki, Finland, was called off earlier in the week, after the navy sailor’s body was noticed in the water by an onlooker.
‘Thank you to the Swedish and German navies, the U.S. Air Force, and the Sailors from Arleigh Burke for their extensive efforts to search for our shipmate, Cmdr. Flynn concluded the statement.
Spearman’s body has yet to be recovered, Cmdr. Richlyn Ivey, a spokeswoman for U.S. 6th Fleet, told Stars and Stripes.
The teen is the second sailor to have died while on active duty within the last year.
Petty Officer 1st Class Robin Nicole Collins, 26, died on July 18, 2021, while on duty. She came to her death after a ‘shelter roof and chimney collapsed during heavy weather,’ the Navy Times reported two months later.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has not released details. The location and cause of Collins’ death are unknown, as the investigation remains classified.