In Remembrance

I would like to include here any Chinook crewmembers that have lost their lives flying the CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

The following personnel lost their lives while flying in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 David Ayala, 24, of New York, N.Y.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Clint J. Prather, 32, of Cheney, Wash.

Staff Sgt. Charles R. Sanders Jr., 29, of Charleston, Mo.

Spc. Michael K. Spivey, 21, of Fayetteville, N.C.

Pfc. Pendelton L. Sykes II, 25, of Chesapeake, Va.

All our members of Big Windy, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, 12th Aviation Brigade, Giebelstadt, Germany who perished April 6th 2005.

The following personnel lost their lives while flying in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Photo of 1LT Brian Slavenas, F/106 (ILNG) Shot Down 2 November, 2003 over Fallujah, Iraq.  Flight School Class 01-10.

The following personnel lost their lives while flying with B Company, 159th Aviation "Hercules" in Operation Desert Storm

CW3 Bob Hughes

This photo was taken in Korea about 1988 (Thank you Darin Ninness)

SSG Mike A. Garrett, Flight Engineer, age 32, from West Point, Mississippi.

Spc William C. Brace, Crew Chief, age 24, from Fountain Hill Pennsylvania.

Thanks to SSG  Ducote for the above info!!

Major Marie T. Rossi-Cayton

Major Marie T. Rossi-Cayton was an outstanding aviator and soldier who lost her life flying and soldiering in combat in Southwest Asia during Operation DESERT STORM. Major Rossi-Cayton, 32, the first female Aviation Commander to fly into combat, led B Company, 2nd Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, 18th Aviation Brigade and was the pilot of a CH-47D Chinook flying supplies to troops in the combat zone.

One day before the ground phase of Operation DESERT STORM began, television viewers across the United States saw a Cable News Network (CNN) interview of Major Rossi-Cayton in which she spoke of her role as a woman flying in the combat zone. Major Rossi-Cayton commented that she would be among the first to cross into Iraq when the ground war started.

In a "no big deal" context, she said, "Personally, as an aviator and a soldier, this is the moment that anybody trains for, so I feel ready for the challenge." With the selflessness of these words and thoughts, she captured and epitomized the excellence of today's Army leaders and aviators.

  Major Rossi-Cayton was the first female U.S. Army Aviator to be killed while flying combat support missions in an active theater of war. She set the example for the legions of female aviators and soldiers to follow - indeed for all who are to follow in the contingencies and wars of the future, male and female. She was an outstanding soldier who gave her life flying and soldiering in Southwest Asia

 Major Rossi is buried in Arlington Cemetery, the only female casualty of the Gulf War so honored.  Her simple epitaph there commemorates her pioneering sacrifice and reads "First Female Combat Commander To Fly into Battle."
  

If you have any more info on Chinook Soldiers who lost their life for our freedom, please feel free to send it to me @ webmaster@ch47.org