A 25-year-old National Guard soldier who was found dead in the woods two days after he disappeared during a training exercise at Camp Blanding died from environmental heat exposure, according to the Duval County medical examiner.
Alabama Army reservist Cayln McLemore’s death was declared an accident, according to Chief Medical Examiner Valerie Rao’s final report dated Tuesday.
McLemore’s disappearance at the military training center near Starke saw about 450 military, police and civilian searchers combing its woods and swamp on foot, horseback, helicopter and other vehicles, coordinated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. Involved in a land navigation training class in the huge 70,000-acre site, he did not return as scheduled at 11 a.m. June 27, according to the Sheriff’s Office. He was equipped with full uniform, a navigation tool, a map and some basic food and water.
Searchers found some of his cast-off gear during the search in hot, sunny conditions after days of rain. Then his remains were found as searchers focused on a 1,000-acre-plus area where they believed he had gone during training with about 70 other soldiers.