These motorcycles, parked at the Ishikawa Police Station in Uruma, Okinawa, November 20, 2024, were involved in a fatal collision the previous day in Kin City. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Marine motorcyclist killed Tuesday in a multi-vehicle crash in northern Okinawa was a Texas native and motor vehicle operator with multiple service awards, according to the Marine Corps.

Lance Cpl. Avery Wayne Leverette, 21, of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force Support Battalion at Camp Hansen, died in the five-vehicle crash, 3rd MEF spokesman Capt. Pawel Puczko said Thursday in a press release.

Leverette was pronounced dead at Chubu Hospital in the city of Uruma at approximately 10:50 p.m., the statement said.

“Lance Cpl. Leverette has had a lasting impact on all the Marines around him over the past few years,” battalion commander Lt. Col. Kieran O’Neil said in the release. “His death is tragic and the battalion joins his family in grief. He will always be loved and remembered.”

Leverette enlisted in the Marine Corps in Houston in March 2022 and was promoted to chain corporal in May 2023, according to the Corps.

His awards include the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and two Sea Service Conduct Ribbons.

Leverette’s motorcycle collided with the motorcycle of a fellow III MEF Marine at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday on Highway 329 in the Yaka district of Kin City, according to an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman. His bike veered into the oncoming lane, hit the right side of a passenger car and then a kei truck behind the car.

Some Japanese government officials can only speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

The other Marine, a 20-year-old corporal who has not been identified by the Marines or police, hit the back of the car in front of him, the police spokesman said. He was in stable condition at Okinawa Naval Hospital, Puczko wrote in an email Wednesday. Police said it appears she broke her ankle.

“U.S. military officials are working with local authorities to investigate the incident,” the III MEF statement said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.