Hadn't heard of this one. Thanks for bring it to my attention.
GIs who Died in Crash Buried Together
DALLAS -- Almost a year ago to the day, Red River 44 took off from Kuwait, bound for Balad in central Iraq.
Seven National Guardsmen, three of them from North Texas, were aboard a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.
They were among the last soldiers of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment to move into Iraq for the beginning of their 10-month deployment.
Except that Red River 44 went down around midnight Sept. 17, killing all seven men: four Texans and three Oklahomans. It was the worst one-day loss of men for the Texas National Guard since World War II.
Sunday marked the end of their return home.
Under a constant and soaking rain, the last of their remains were buried in a single battleship-gray casket at the top of a hill in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, a fitting end, some said, because of their close relationship while alive.
"I'm glad they did this," said Glenda Hamilton, the mother of Chief Warrant Officer Corry A. Edwards, 38, who lived in Kennedale. "This is good. This is closure."
Most of the men's individual remains had already been identified and buried months ago. But in a catastrophic accident like theirs, some could not be separated.
Edwards and 1st Lt. Robert Vallejo II, 28, who lived in North Richland Hills, were already buried at the national cemetery.
"Section 7," Hamilton said. "There's only one grave in between them. We visit both of them when we come."
The accident also killed Sgt. Anthony Luke Mason, 37, of Springtown; Chief Warrant Officer Brady J. Rudolf, 37, of Oklahoma City; 1st Sgt. Julio Ordonez, 54, of San Antonio; Sgt. Daniel Eshbaugh, 43, of Norman, Okla.; and Cpl. Michael E. Thompson, 23, of Kingston, Okla.
The graveside ceremony, attended by hundreds of soldiers from the Texas and Oklahoma National Guard, was followed by a memorial service in the unit's hangar in southwest Dallas. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, who attended both services, presented a proclamation and helped dedicate a remembrance park outside the hangar.
Because the unit just returned in June and was given time off, Sunday was the first opportunity for the entire battalion to gather and memorialize the men.
Amid a few poignant songs, including an a cappella version of The Lord's Prayer, and the often-difficult speeches from commanders, the most memorable part of the service was the presentation of flags to each of the men's children.
There were 18 of them, some of them stoic teenagers, some crying children and one 9-month-old boy who never laid eyes on his dad.
Robert Vallejo III was born Jan. 30. His mother, Hillary, told her husband in her last message to him that they would be having a girl, based on the doctor's look at the sonogram.
"We were just thrilled with joy beyond belief," said Wayne Meason, Vallejo's father-in-law, at the birth of Robert III. "But there was also this deep, unabiding hurt, knowing that he would grow up never having met his father. As the father of a daughter, there was no man a father would want more as his son-in-law."
The primary cause of the accident was "spatial disorientation" by the pilots, said Col. Clay Brock, who commanded the brigade in Iraq, using an aviation term that describes what happens when a pilot loses sense of the horizon and his position relative to the Earth.
Because the North Texas unit had just arrived in Iraq, the accident was a terrible blow, soldiers said. But the unit had to continue its missions, said Lt. Col. Joanne MacGregor, the battalion commander.
"They're an incredible team," she said. "Very resilient."
Sgt. 1st Class Darrin Smith, the platoon sergeant in charge of most of the men on board and a Bell Helicopter employee, said soldiers "don't have a choice."
"Drive on," Smith said. "It wasn't easy."
On Sunday, Smith remembered Mason in particular, a man he described as a "good dude, a good friend." Mason had just recently become a flight engineer so he could fly as part of the helicopter crew.
"He was a good ol' country boy from Springtown, Texas," Smith said. "I miss him a lot."
I'm glad they did this. This is good. This is closure."
Glenda Hamilton, the mother of Chief Warrant Officer Corry A. Edwards who was killed last year in Iraq.
