Rescuers recover body of final missing U.S. soldier in Lithuania

• The discovery of the fourth soldier came a day after rescuers recovered the bodies of the three other soldiers.
• Their armored vehicle was found the following day submerged in a peat bog near the city.
• The identities of the four soldiers — who hail from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Georgia — were not released pending the notification of their next of kin, the the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Public Affairs Office said in a press release Tuesday.

What they're saying: "This past week has been devastating. Today our hearts bear the weight of an unbearable pain with the loss of our final Dogface Soldier," Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, 3rd Inf. Div. commanding general, said in a statement Tuesday. "Though we have received some closure, the world is darker without them."

• Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė expressed her condolences to the soldiers' families in a post on X Monday.

• "These young people will always live on in Lithuania's heart. No words can adequately express our gratitude for their selfless sacrifice in choosing the profession of a soldier," she wrote.

Zoom out: The four U.S. soldiers were part of a rotation to Europe under Operation Atlantic Resolve.

• The operation was launched in 2014 to bolster U.S. commitment to NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Crimea.

Go deeper: Four U.S. soldiers still missing in Lithuania