U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ
Amber Warlock, 31, a former Marine whose husband is a Marine pilot currently stationed at Camp Pendleton, sat with her daughter, Heidi, yesterday in Oceanside, Calif. The seaside military town reacted with grief and resolve at the news that more than two dozen service members were killed when a U.S. transport helicopter crashed in Iraq.
27 Kaneohe
Marines die
Helicopter crash in Iraq
also kills a Pearl Harbor sailor
Crashes had killed 7 with isle ties
Elections may present more dangers
Fallen isle soldier honored
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In one of the darkest days for Hawaii's military since World War II, 27 Kaneohe Marines and a Pearl Harbor sailor were reported to be among the 31 people killed when a troop helicopter crashed in Iraq yesterday.
The news, which President Bush called "very discouraging to the American people," quickly spread through Kaneohe yesterday afternoon, stunning residents and Hawaii's leaders.
"I am deeply saddened by this event. I am stunned that so many lives were lost in a single incident," said U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka. "My heartfelt thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies go to the families of each Marine."
With yesterday's crash the number of military personnel with Hawaii ties who have died serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait rose to 80 from 52.
The CH-53E Super Stallion crashed at 1:20 a.m. local time near Rutbah, close to the Jordanian border, according to a military statement. No survivors were found. The Marines were on a security mission in support of Sunday's national election in Iraq, the military said. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but there were indications that fog and sandstorms may have been factors.
Akaka, D-Hawaii, issued a press release saying that he was "contacted by the Marine Corps yesterday morning and informed that 27 of the 31 Marines tragically killed in last night's accident were from Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe."
In California the Ventura County Star identified the sailor as Navy corpsman John Daniel House, 28. The newspaper said House was scheduled to return to Hawaii on Feb. 20.
He had been stationed at Pearl Harbor for a year where he lived with wife Melanie, who gave birth to their son on Christmas Eve, the newspaper reported. This was his second deployment to Iraq.
"I can't believe that he is really gone," his mother, Susan, told the newspaper. "He was an incredible son and husband."
The 27 Kaneohe Marines are believed to be members of a platoon assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, while the helicopter's crew was from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Family members also identified Cpl. Sean Kelly of Pitman, N.J., as one of those killed from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. His parents, Alexander and Lynn Kelly, told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that they had last spoken to their son on Monday. Kelly, 23, had been a Marine for four years. He had planned to make the service his career, his father said.
"He just always wanted to be a Marine," Alexander Kelly said.
Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan Edward Etterling, 22, of Wheelersburg, Ohio, was also among those killed, members of his family said.
Yesterday's crash was the deadliest single incident for American forces since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people," President Bush said in a press conference yesterday. "I understand that. We value life, and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life. But it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom."
Six more U.S. troops were killed in insurgent attacks throughout Iraq yesterday, making it the deadliest day for American forces since the war began. The previous deadliest day for U.S. forces was March 23, 2003, the third day of the war, when 28 U.S. soldiers died, mostly in fierce fighting in southern Iraq.
Kaneohe's military community was on edge from the moment news broke in the morning that a helicopter with Marines crashed in Iraq. Early reports, however, said the Marines were based at Camp Pendleton in southern California. By afternoon, word began to spread that the majority of the dead were from Kaneohe.
"That saddens me," said Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Newcomb at Aikahi Park Shopping Center. "Some pretty good people doing a very hard job, and it's sad when we lose some of our own. So many from one base -- this small a base."
Naty Castillo, owner of Naty's Bridal Design Laundry and Alterations, held up yesterday the dress blues uniform of a Marine who will escort home the bodies of Marines killed in Iraq.
"I immediately called my mom," who flew in from California yesterday afternoon, Rodriguez said. "She didn't want me to deal with it alone."
She soon learned her husband was not aboard the helicopter that crashed. "We thought it was him but it wasn't," she said.
Rodriguez described her reaction: "Relief when you find out it's not yours, but sad for those families."
She said she was told that the dead were from Charlie Company, the first company her husband was in when he arrived in Hawaii.
"You can't console yet because I don't know who they are," she said.
Hawaii leaders were quick to issue statements of condolence to the families of the dead.
"This is indeed a difficult time," said U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who lost his right arm fighting in World War II.
"I hope all Americans will express, in their own way, their appreciation of these heroes whom we have just lost," he said. "Having served in combat, and especially having many friends who never made it back home, I am well aware of the grief and anguish that family members and friends are experiencing over the loss of their loved ones."
State Sen. Bob Hogue (R, Kaneohe-Kailua) noted, "This is such a horrible tragedy, and I feel for all the people and their families."
"The entire Kaneohe Marine base is such a vital part of the Kaneohe and Kailua community that we feel like family when something like this happens," Hogue added.
Mayor Mufi Hannemann said he was "shocked and saddened to learn of the deaths of so many Kaneohe Marines fighting for our country.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of these brave warriors, whose sacrifices will not be forgotten by those of us here in Hawaii. And we pray for the safety of all of the American men and women in uniform who are still deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan."
Gov. Linda Lingle's office said it had not received official confirmation from the military so would not comment.
Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson, commander of Marine Forces Pacific, confirmed that 31 people were on board the helicopter, but would not give any details on the dead Marines.
"Our sympathies now go out with the families and survivors of those great Marines who were lost in the incident," he told reporters in Kaneohe.
Until yesterday, Kaneohe's 1st Battalion had lost 16 Marines and one Navy corpsman in combat in Iraq. Two of those Marines joined the Kaneohe unit on Okinawa after it was assigned to 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in August and sent to Iraq in October. Before the Kaneohe unit deployed to Iraq, one Kaneohe Marine died of heat exhaustion on Okinawa, and another was killed in a truck accident after it arrived there.
Previously, Kaneohe's biggest loss was in the Oct. 30 suicide bombing that killed seven Marines in Al Anbar province.
Of the nearly 7,000 Marines and sailors stationed on the 2,951-acre Windward Oahu base on Mokapu peninsula, nearly 2,000 are serving either in Iraq or Afghanistan.
More than 900 members of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, left Kaneohe in July for what was supposed to have been a routine seven-month deployment on Okinawa. However, the insurgency in Iraq forced a change of plans, and they arrived there in October and were part of the major Fallujah offensive several months ago.
Kaneohe Bay also maintains two other rifle battalions.
The 900-member 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, left in November for a seven-month tour in Afghanistan.
Col. James Patterson, who commands Kaneohe's 3rd Marine Regiment, said his one remaining combat unit, the 2nd Battalion with another 900 Marines, is preparing for a tour in Afghanistan slated to begin in June.
At Aikahi Park Shopping Center, meanwhile, seamstress Naty Castillo said she was helping out a customer who brought in his Marine dress blues for alterations for a special mission.
"They got to go there (Iraq) to escort the people that just died," she said.
www.mcbh.usmc.mil/3mar/1dbn/1-3%20INDEX.htm
Marine Corps Base Hawaii
www.mcbh.usmc.mil
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