text: Lejeune Marine dies skydiving in Australia with his wife 
   
   A 33-year-old Camp Lejeune Marine died Saturday afternoon while skydiving with his wife in Australia — a trip she won in a competition on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in January. 
   
   He crashed into the ground after a flawless descent that ended with unexplained complications that remain under investigation. 
   
   Brandon McGraw, 33, of Hampstead died in Euroa, Australia — which is in Melbourne, Victoria — while skydiving with his wife, Cherilyn McGraw, a special education teacher at Topsail Elementary School. 
   
   McGraw recently had returned from Afghanistan, and while his rank was not known at press time, photos on his Facebook page depict a man fond of extreme sports who was skilled at climbing and skydiving. 
   
   The couple was jumping with members of Euroa Skydive, an Australian skydiving school. 
   
   Ian Matthews, who works at Euroa Skydive, told The Daily News that Brandon was an experienced skydiver with more than “a few jumps under his belt.” 
   
   “McGraw watched his wife do a tandem jump before exiting the plane,” Matthews said. “He floated for three or four minutes with a good canopy. ||||| A Marine died in a freak parachute accident during a dream vacation to Australia his wife had won on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. 
   
   Brandon McGraw, 33, was killed in Euroa on Saturday afternoon when, on coming down for a landing, he suddenly veered left and right and slammed into the ground. 
   
   The last image of Brandon McGraw before his jump that ended with his shocking death. (Cherilyn McGraw via Facebook) 
   
   The Afghan and Iraq war veteran, who’d watched his wife Cherilyn safely perform a tandem jump with an instructor seconds before, went into cardiac arrest. 
   
   Brandon McGraw takes a photo of himself on the plane just before his jump. (Cherilyn McGraw via Facebook) 
   
   He was pronounced dead at the scene 12:30 p.m. 
   
   Cherilyn McGraw on the Ellen show. (Cherilyn McGraw via YouTube/NBC) 
   
   Gunnery sergeant McGraw was based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The couple was from Huntington and married in Nov. 2011. 
   
   Cherilyn McGraw competed and went on to win a contest that earned her the trip to Australia. (Cherilyn McGraw via YouTube/NBC) 
   
   His wife won the “Stuff Your Down Under Pants” contest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Jan. 16 last year, the Jacksonville Daily News reported. She took home a trip for two to Australia. 
   
   Cherilyn McGraw and husband Brandon McGraw were married in 2011. (Brandon McGraw via Facebook) 
   
   The duo finally took advantage of the prize this month, flying to the southern hemisphere — with a stop-over in New York City — at the weekend. 
   
   Cherilyn McGraw with her late husband, who was a Marine who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, as he returned home from his military service. 
   
   Capt. Barry Morris, of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, told WTKR McGraw was an extreme sports enthusiast with “many” skydive jumps under his belt. 
   
   Undated photo of Brandon McGraw in Afghanistan. 
   
   McGraw’s special education teacher Cherilyn wife paid tribute to her husband on Facebook. 
   
   Cherilyn McGraw with her husband Brandon McGraw on their wedding day. 
   
   Calling him her “hero” and “angel,” she uploaded the haunting final photo of him smiling on board the plane just moment before jumping. 
   
   “These are truly such symbolic photos,” she wrote. 
   
   “He was happy and doing what he loved. It’s amazing all that photos can capture in a moments time … I love you more than anything in the world, honey. You are the most amazing man,” she added. 
   
   The Euroa Skydive school, based near Melbourne, Victoria, is now investigating the incident - the first fatality in its 30-year history.
target: – A Marine and his wife were in Australia last week on a trip they won on Ellen DeGeneres' show in January, but it ended in tragedy when the Marine was killed in a skydiving accident. Cherilyn McGraw made a tandem jump in Euroa, north of Melbourne, on Saturday, but husband Brandon had skydiving experience and jumped solo, the Daily News reports. Something went wrong with his parachute 300 feet from the ground, causing him to twist and turn and ultimately crash; he went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene. An employee of Euroa Skydive says Brandon had more than "a few jumps under his belt," as well as training and documentation, and that most of his jump went flawlessly. Australian media have cited high winds as a possible factor. McGraw, 33, had recently come back from a deployment in Afghanistan, and was also an Iraq war veteran, the New York Daily News reports. His wife, a special education teacher in their home state of North Carolina, won the trip by competing in a "Stuff Your Down Under Pants" contest on Ellen, managing to stuff the most balls into a large pair of pants. McGraw's Facebook page shows he was a fan of extreme sports including skydiving, and a Marine Corps captain confirms to confirms to WCTI that McGraw was highly trained. Following his death, Cherilyn posted pictures to Facebook taken moments before her husband's jump, saying he "was happy and doing what he loved" when he died.