GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — One of the U.S. Marines killed in a helicopter crash outside of San Diego earlier this week was from West Michigan.
The U.S. military identified him as Capt. Miguel Nava, 28. He left behind a wife and 6-month-old son.
Nava grew up in Comstock Park, where his mother was a longtime employee of Comstock Public Schools and where he graduated from high school in 2013. The school district said that Nava was a member of the student council and played on the football and soccer teams. He won district and regional championships with the football team in 2011 and 2012. He was an all-conference soccer player and part of the 2012 district championship team.
“He was just so compassionate and so determined to help others out,” Comstock Park High School Assistant Principal Tony Petkus recalled Nava. “We did some staff reflections this week and the stories of him going into classrooms on his own, on his own time, both in the high school and in the elementary school, mentoring some of our young kiddos. They thought he was the greatest because he was so tall. The stories were just endless of who he was.”