Body of Marine killed in air crash to be escorted from Los Angeles to Ventura on Sunday

The body of Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Robert Cox will be escorted from Los Angeles International Airport to a funeral home in Ventura on Sunday by a motorcycle group.

The Patriot Guard Riders, whose members honor the dead in the U.S. military and others who have served, are scheduled to leave LAX around 4:15 p.m. and arrive at Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura about 5:30 p.m. Sunday as part of the escort.

Sunday will mark exactly 10 years since Cox joined the service, according to the Marine Corps.

Born in Ventura, Cox, 28, was one of 16 people killed when a Marine Corps transport plane crashed into a field in Mississippi on July 10 while en route from a Marine Corps station in North Carolina to Naval Air Facility El Centro in California. 

More:Ventura County man one of 16 killed in military plane crash

His father, Millard Cox, issued a statement last week that the loss of his son "is devastating, to say the least."

"If it weren't for my other two children, my heart and soul would be empty," his father said.

He said his son decided to become a Marine as a 12-year-old when he watched the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on TV. 

He "told me that when he was old enough, he was going to do his part to keep anything like that from happening again," his father recalled last week.

As a senior in high school, Robert Cox joined the Marine Corps as a reservist and soon was part of the Iraq War. He also participated in the Afghanistan War and received numerous awards during 10 years with the Marine Corps.

Cox was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and was part of an elite special operations force team with the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. A Marine Corps official said the group was scheduled to go from El Centro to Yuma, Arizona, for training. The training was in preparation for deployment overseas, the Marine Corps said.

A memorial service for Cox will be held on the morning of July 29 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3501 Loma Vista Road in Ventura, according to a representative from the Marine Corps. A funeral will follow at Pierce Brothers Santa Paula Cemetery.