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Services begin
for isle soldiers
killed in crash
in Afghanistan

Lt. Col. Michael McMahon, one of three Schofield Barracks soldiers killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan last weekend, will be remembered as a soldier with "incredible energy," according to a fellow aviator.

"He was like the Energizer bunny," said Col. Shannon Davis, Joint Task Force Wings commander, who also heads the 25th Division's Aviation Brigade, in a phone call from Afghanistan. "He never seemed to run down."

"He had a very special gift that he enjoyed with the Afghan people whether it be warlords, common folk or just children which enabled him to win their hearts and minds," said Davis, who will speak tomorrow at a prayer service at Baghram Airfield.

A private memorial service also was scheduled for today at Schofield Barracks for the three 25th Infantry Division soldiers killed in the plane crash.

The bodies of three civilian crew members and the Schofield soldiers, identified as McMahon, 41, of Connecticut, commander of the 25th Infantry Division's 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment; Chief Warrant Officer Travis W. Grogan, 31, of Moore, Okla.; and Spc. Harley D. Miller, 21, of Spokane, Wash., were being flown back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware yesterday, said military spokesman Maj. Mark McCann.

In Grogan's hometown the soldier's mother and grandmother called him a "hero" during an interview with KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.

"He died for our freedoms here in America," Barbara Grogan said of her only son, a helicopter pilot. "This was important to him, and it should be important to everyone in America. Our freedoms are worth fighting for."

Grogan leaves behind a wife and two children.

He joined the Army in 1991 after graduation from high school and was assigned to Schofield Barracks in August of 2001.

Davis said McMahon and his wife, Jeanette -- also an active-duty lieutenant colonel -- were "a model military family and devoted their careers and lives in service to their country."

"He was a loving father, husband and model soldier," Davis said. He leaves three sons behind -- Michael, Ricky and Thomas.

McMahon was a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. He served as executive officer of the 25th Infantry Division's Aviation Brigade before assuming his command last year.

Miller, a OH58D (Kiowa) helicopter repairer, enlisted in the Army in April 2002 and was assigned to Schofield Barracks in September 2003.

All three soldiers were assigned to Headquarters, Headquarters Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Calvary Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light).

The Army is investigating why the fixed-wing CASA 212 plane they were flying in went down Saturday in the Hindu Kush mountains, southeast of Bamiyan. The crash was apparently not caused by enemy fire.

The plane was contracted to the U.S. military by Florida-based Presidential Airways. The Spanish-developed transport plane is designed to land and take off using short, rough airstrips.