A captain and chaplain with the Utah Army National Guard died Saturday while swimming laps at a local pool, officials announced Sunday.
Chaplain (Capt.) Corey Holmgren, 35, was swimming laps while his wife recorded him with her phone at the West Valley Family Fitness Center when he went under the water and did not surface, West Valley City Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Fox said, according to the Deseret News.
Lifeguards tried to revive Holmgren, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital, the newspaper reported.
Holmgren was a member of the 19th Special Forces Group at Camp Williams in Bluffdale, Utah.
He was on orders at Camp Williams supporting a Yellow Ribbon event for Special Forces soldiers who had recently returned from a deployment overseas and their families.
“We are shocked and saddened by the loss of Capt. Holmgren," said Maj. Gen. Jefferson Burton, the adjutant general of the Utah National Guard, in a statement. "He was a phenomenal chaplain and soldier, and his loss will be felt deeply within our ranks.”
The cause of Holmgren’s death is under investigation.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
