(Ken Silva, Headline USA) CNN reported Monday that one of the U.S. Army soldiers injured while building the Biden administration’s failed $320 million pier to Gaza died last week.
“[Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley] was injured while supporting the mission that delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza in May 2024 and was receiving treatment in long-term care medical center,” Capt. Shkeila Milford-Glover, a spokesman for the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, said Monday, as reported by CNN.
The Pentagon has called Stanley’s injuries non-combat related, but hasn’t released details on how or why he was hurt. Two other soldiers were also injured building the Gaza pier in May, but their injuries weren’t serious.
The death of Stanley, 23, marks a tragic ending to a project plagued with problems from its inception.
In May, the same month Stanley was fatally injured, the pier crumbled just days after becoming operational.
The Pentagon eventually got the pier back up and running in July, but only for a few days.
Pentagon officials have claimed that more than 19.4 million pounds of food has gotten into Gaza via the pier—meaning that U.S. taxpayers spent roughly $16 per pound of food for the Palestinians, who are still starving today.
If there’s any silver lining to the failed pier project, it’s that U.S. troops are no longer be in harm’s way.
The Pentagon had previously warned that the pier could lead to the U.S. military being directly involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admitted as much during a congressional budget hearing last month, when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., expressed concerns that the 1,000 US troops operating just off the coast of Gaza are prime targets for Hamas.
“Don’t you think that’s boots on the ground? President Biden told the country we weren’t going to have boots on the ground in Gaza,” Gaetz said. “You guys seem to be sort of saying that boots on a pier connected to the ground connected to servicemembers shooting into Gaza doesn’t count as boots on the ground.”
A staging area for the pier had recently come under mortar fire at the time of Gaetz’s remarks.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
