The body of a US Army officer who went missing during military exercises in Morocco has been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, the US Army announced on Sunday. A Moroccan military search team found the remains of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., 27, along the shoreline near Cap Draa, a rugged coastal area in the Tan-Tan district of southern Morocco, at approximately 8:55 a.m. local time on May 9 — roughly one mile from where he and a second soldier were last seen. A search operation for the second missing soldier remains ongoing.
Key and his fellow service member disappeared on the night of May 2 after falling from a cliff during a recreational hike in the Cap Draa Training Area. The terrain around Tan-Tan, a remote town in Morocco's south near the border with Western Sahara, is characterised by mountains, desert and semi-desert plains. Their disappearance prompted a large-scale search-and-rescue operation involving more than 600 personnel from the United States, Morocco and partner nations, deploying frigates, vessels, helicopters and drones. A US contingent remained in Morocco after the formal exercises concluded on Friday to maintain command and continue search efforts.
Key was a 14A Air Defense Artillery officer assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. He entered military service in 2023 and earned his commission through Officer Candidate School in 2024, later completing the Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. His decorations included the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
The two soldiers were participating in African Lion 26, the largest annual US-led joint military exercise on the African continent, which has been held since 2004. This year's edition, now in its 22nd iteration, launched on April 27 across four countries — Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal — with more than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations. The main component of the exercise takes place in Morocco, involving around 5,000 troops from more than 40 countries, including NATO allies and African partner nations.
The incident is a sobering reminder of the risks inherent even in the non-combat aspects of large-scale military exercises. In 2012, two US Marines were killed and two others injured in a helicopter crash in the southern Moroccan city of Agadir during the same annual exercises. The loss of Key and the continued search for his fellow soldier cast a shadow over what is otherwise a flagship exercise in US-Africa military cooperation.