SAN DIEGO – At a military cemetery overlooking the Pacific, family and friends paid their final respects Wednesday to Marine Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, who was among the first casualties in the U.S.-led war with Iraq.

Aubin was buried at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in a service that was closed to the public and reporters. About 70 people attended, cemetery spokesman Rick Boyd said.

Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine, was one of the four U.S. Marines and eight British Marines killed March 20 when a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait near the Iraqi border. Aubin was at the helicopter’s controls when it crashed in a sandstorm, according to the Marine Corps.