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A tribute with aloha A "little aloha touch" will be added to a quiet ceremony at Wheeler Army Air Field Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of a helicopter crash that killed six 25th Infantry Division soldiers.
A ceremony marks the anniversary
of a fatal military copter crashBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThe touch of aloha was requested by Lovie Perry, whose husband, Chief Warrant Officer George Perry, was piloting one of the two Black Hawks that crashed in the Kahuku Military Training Area near Sunset Beach last Feb. 12.
She requested that Gleeman Plus, a group of 30 senior citizen singers led by well-known island concertmaster Shigeru Hotoke, be allowed to sing three songs during the hourlong ceremony.
"Mr. Hotoke used to head the Kailua Madrigals when I attended Kailua High School in the late 1970s," Perry said. "After the accident I joined his Gleeman Plus group, and I thought it would be a nice touch to put local aloha into the ceremony."
Hotoke's group will do three songs -- "The Queen's Prayer," "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "God Bless the USA."
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Tuesday's ceremony, which will include the unveiling of a memorial stone and plaque with the six soldiers' names, started off as a small one involving only a company of soldiers from the division's 25th Aviation Regiment, Perry said.However, since other soldiers wanted to participate, it turned into a battalion affair, she said. Four of the victims -- Perry, Chief Warrant Officer Greg Montgomery, Sgt. Thomas Barber and Spc. Bob MacDonald -- were members of the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.
The other two victims were Maj. Robert Olson and Spc. Rafael Olvera-Rodriguez, both members of the 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery.
The past year has been rough, Perry said.
"It has been an experience I never thought I would ever encounter," Perry said. "When I married George, I was so sure of the future. Everything was so simple."
She said that was because her husband was so meticulous in planning things.
"Certain people are so practical and so meticulous," Perry said. "That was my husband. He always planned things well so nothing would happen. But the accident proved him wrong. It shows that you can't take life for granted."
Since the accident a year ago, her priority has been her two sons -- Michael, 15, and Daniel, 11 -- both of whom attend St. Louis School.
She's extremely proud of how well her sons have been able to cope, noting that Michael's JV basketball team placed third on Thursday and that Daniel, a sixth grader, was "the first Perry to make the principal's list at St. Louis with a 4.0 GPA."
"I am grateful for the support and love shown by the military, our family, friends, and staff and teachers at St. Louis (high school)," she said. "They helped us through a difficult time."
Perry has decided to go back to college with the hope of earning a degree in accounting or business.
A six-month Army investigation completed in August concluded there was no evidence of criminal negligence on the part of Perry and the other Black Hawk pilot.
However, Lt. Col. Paul Disney, who headed the 2nd Battalion, was given a letter of reprimand for inadequate planning, incomplete risk assessment and failure to rehearse an alternate route. The 25th Division said Disney is still currently attending the Army's War College in Pennsylvania.
This was the first Black Hawk accident since the Army received the helicopters in February 1985.
George Perry and Montgomery were piloting the Black Hawk Feb. 12, carrying a Humvee in a sling below the aircraft. There were four Black Hawks in his formation. The other three were carrying lighter sling loads of ammunition crates in a cargo netting.
Bad weather forced a last-minute change and although the task force commander, Disney, chose an alternate safer ocean route to the Kahuku training area, it meant a riskier 180-degree turn into the landing zone.
As the formation approached the landing zone, Montgomery and Perry's Black Hawk fell behind the formation and out of position. Following the 180-degree turn, the four sling ropes of Perry and Montgomery's Black Hawk hit the rotor blade of another helicopter. All six soldiers on board Perry and Montgomery's helicopter were killed. The 11 occupants of the other Black Hawk walked away from the crash.