Service due here
for SEAL fatalities

The military identifies the three
who were based at Pearl Harbor

A memorial service in Hawaii is being planned for three Pearl Harbor-based Navy SEALs who died last week when their helicopter was shot down in the rugged Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan, a military spokesman said yesterday.

The bodies of the 16 special forces servicemembers killed in the crash were loaded in flag-draped caskets onto a C-17 transport plane during an "emotional ceremony" Friday night and flown to Dover, Del., officials said.

Yesterday the military identified the Pearl Harbor SEALS killed as Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh, Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel Healy and Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Shane Patton. They were with five Virginia-based SEALs and eight soldiers from Georgia's Hunter Army Airfield when their MH-47 Chinook went down Tuesday near Asadabad near the Pakistani border.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families at this very difficult time," said Rear Adm. Joseph Maguire, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, in a statement. "We want them to know that their loved ones did not die in vain."

The warfare command oversees both Pearl Harbor's SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, where the three men were assigned, and SEAL Team 10 in Virginia.

Patton, of Boulder City, Nev., joined the Navy SEALs in 2000 -- fresh out of Boulder City High School. His father, James "JJ" Patton, is a municipal court marshal in Las Vegas and former Navy SEAL, according to a news release from the Nevada governor's office.

"I was deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Shane Patton," Gov. Kenny Guinn said in a statement. "Shane risked his life to protect the freedoms that all Americans cherish; sadly, this act of bravery cost him his life."

Friends told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas that the 22-year-old learned how to surf in the islands and was a baseball star in his hometown. "He was just full of life," said Dennis Tretton, whose son was best friends with Patton.

Healy, of Exeter, N.H., had been in the Navy for at least 15 years and had four children, two of whom lived in Honolulu, the Associated Press said.

The 36-year-old graduated from Exeter High School in 1986 and was sent to the Middle East in March for a six-month tour. "He was proud to serve his country," Healy's mother, Natalie Healy, told the New Hampshire Union Leader earlier this week.

Suh, of Deerfield Beach, Fla., has family there, but they refused comment to the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The family said that Suh's father was en route to Hawaii.

The Virginia Beach-based SEALs were: Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan, 36, of New Orleans, La.; Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen, 33, of San Diego; Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffery A. Lucas, 33, of Corbett, Ore.; Lt. Michael M. McGreevy, Jr., 30, of Portville, N.Y.; and Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey S. Taylor, 30, of Midway, W. Va.

The eight Army soldiers killed in the crash were: Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, 29, of Danville, Ohio; Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, 35, of Clarks Grove, Minn; Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, 21, of Pompano Beach, Fla.; Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles, 33, of Shelbyville, Ind. ; Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III, 36, of Franklin, Tenn.; Maj. Stephen C. Reich, 34, of Washington Depot, Conn.; Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, 31, of Stafford, Va. ; and Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach, 40, of Jacksonville, Fla.

In Afghanistan yesterday, a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Gerry O'Hara, said that American warplanes had struck at an enemy compound Friday afternoon in Kunar Province near where the helicopter had gone down. He said there was no information on casualties or the results of the airstrike.

Reports from the area said civilians were killed in the airstrike when villagers went to help the people in the compound and planes returned and attacked a second time, a private television station, Tolo TV, reported, quoting a witness. The BBC said 25 people were killed in the bombing, quoting an unnamed Afghan security official in the region.

O'Hara declined to say whether the airstrike was directly related to a missing special operations team, which was last heard from in the same area Tuesday. The downed Chinook helicopter with Navy and Army personnel had been trying to extract the missing soldiers when it went into the mountains.

A purported Taliban spokes- man, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed Friday that militants had captured one of the missing men.

Reacting to the claim, O'Hara said there was no evidence indicating that any of the soldiers had been taken into captivity.

The loss of the 16 was the deadliest single blow to American forces who ousted the Taliban in 2001 and are now fighting the escalating insurgency.

In three months of unprecedented fighting, about 502 suspected insurgents, 57 Afghan police and soldiers, 45 U.S. casualties and 134 civilians have been killed. Only eight months ago, Afghan and U.S. officials were hailing a relatively peaceful presidential election as a sign that the Taliban rebellion was finished.