Operation Iraqi Freedom Air Crew
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense No. 543-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2005
Media Contact: Air Force Public Affairs - (703) 695-0640
Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711
DoD Identifies Air Force Casualties
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of four airmen who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The airmen died May 30 in the crash of an Iraqi air force aircraft during a training mission in eastern Diyala province. They are:
Major William Downs, 40, of Winchester, Virginia, assigned to the 6th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida.
Captain Jeremy Fresques, 26, of Clarkdale, Arizona, assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida.
Captain Derek Argel, 28, of Lompoc, California, assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida.
Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, 26, of Spanaway, Washington, assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida.
The cause of the crash is currently under investigation.
For further information related to this release, please contact the Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office at (850) 884-5515.
Iraqi pilot buried at Arlington cemetery
Airman buried with four Americans is first Iraqi interred
Saturday, August 13, 2005
An Iraqi pilot and four U.S. airmen were together aboard an Iraqi Air Force plane when it crashed in May. Their remains were buried together this week in Arlington National Cemetery.
Iraqi Air Force Captain Ali Hussam Abass Alrubaeye, 34, was the first Iraqi ever buried at the United States' premiere military cemetery.
"This will signify that these warriors were training together, they went into battle together, they died together and it's only proper that they be buried together," Lieutenant General Michael Wooley, commander of the Air Force's Special Operations Command, said before the service.
A silver casket covered with an American flag contained Abass' remains as well as those of Major William Downs, 40, of Winchester, Virginia; Captain Jeremy Fresques, 26, of Clarkdale, Arizona; Captain Derek Argel, 28, of Lompoc, California, and Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, 26, of Spanaway, Washington.
Even after resorting to DNA tests, officials were unable to identify some remains of the five men killed May 30. 2005, when their single-engine plane crashed in eastern Diyala province. Separate funerals with remains that could be identified were held earlier by each of the airmen's families. The four had been assigned to Hurlburt Field, Florida.
The unidentified remains were buried with full military honors, including the presentation of Iraqi flags to Abass' parents and widow by Iraqi Air Force Commander Major General Kamal Abdul-Sattar Barzanjy. The 30-minute service included a procession by an Air Force band ahead of a caisson carrying the casket, a flyover and a 21-gun salute.
"It's the right thing to do," Tom Sherlock, the cemetery's historian, said of the group burial. "This person was shoulder-to-shoulder with American airmen."
The crash is still under investigation but is not believed to have been the result of hostile fire, Wooley said. The six-seat Iraqi Air Force Comp Air 7 SL aircraft had been on a mission to survey potential emergency landing sites in the region.
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Alton Phillips, who served with Abass in Iraq this spring, said the captain would have wanted his death to be part of efforts to bring about positive change in Iraq.
"He was very dedicated about doing this mission, about getting the Iraqi Air Force, rebuilding it and making it viable," Phillips said in a telephone interview from Kirkuk, Iraq. "If anyone deserves such an honor, it is certainly Captain Abass."
Phillips said Abass was a quick thinker and displayed it when the two were forced to land on a dirt road 25 miles from Kirkuk after an engine failure. Fearing what might happen as the two men saw vehicles approaching the aircraft from both directions, Abass told Phillips to hide behind a nearby sand berm so he could deal with locals and allay any concerns.
"That he had the presence of mind to think of this and the courage to be willing to protect me, I thought that was absolutely incredible," Phillips said.
There have been eight group burials at Arlington involving 19 foreigners, according to Sherlock. There are 43 individual foreigners also buried there, he said.
In 2002 the unidentified remains of three Americans and seven South Vietnamese soldiers were buried following the discovery in 1990 of a helicopter crash site in Laos where the crew went down in 1968.
Thursday's burial brought the total number of people involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom buried at Arlington to 184.
A U.S. soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in west Baghdad, according to the U.S. military, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 1,846 and the number of American troops killed in August to 47.
Web sites that estimate Iraqi military and police deaths based on government and media reports put the total at more than 2,800.
An Iraqi pilot and four U-S airmen, including one from Arizona, were buried together today at Arlington National Cemetery.
Captain Jeremy Fresques (FREHS'-kes) of Clarkdale and the others were killed May 30th when their Iraqi Air Force plane crashed.
Their remains were buried together in a silver casket.
The commander of the Air Force's Special Operations Command says it was only proper that the five be buried together given that they had trained and gone into battle together.
The Iraqi Air Force captain is the first Iraqi ever buried at the United States' premiere military cemetery.
Even after resorting to D-N-A tests, officials were unable to identify some remains.
The four U-S airmen had been assigned to Hurlburt Field, Florida.
For the first time, an Iraqi national has been buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.
The man was a pilot who died in May with four U-S airmen aboard an Iraqi Air Force plane that crashed in eastern Iraq. The men's remains were buried together today in a silver casket with full military honors.
As Arlington cemetery's historian put it, "It's the right thing to do." The Iraqi pilot was "shoulder-to-shoulder with American airmen."
The crash is still under investigation but is not believed to have been the result of hostile fire.
10 August 2005:
Captain Derek Argel to be buried at Arlington
Air Force Capt. Derek Argel, 28, a Lompoc native who was the town's first resident killed in the Iraq war, will be honored in burial services along with three other American servicemen and their Iraqi pilot at 11 a.m. Thursday, August 11, 2005, at Arlington National Cemetery.
The five men were killed in a plane crash May 30, 2005, northeast of Baghdad while on a mission to find and survey remote landing sites. The cause of the crash remains unknown.
Argel, an outstanding Cabrillo High School water polo player, and the other airmen were awarded the Bronze Star posthumously for his service in Iraq. Argel also was has earned the Air Force Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Medal.
His mother, Debbie Argel Bastian, and his stepfather, grandmother and brother still live in Lompoc.
Argel also left behind a wife, Wendy, and a baby son, Logan, of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, near Hurlburt Field, in the Florida panhandle, where he was stationed with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron.
This will be the second ceremony to honor the downed flight crew. Argel and his comrades were honored in a June 2 ceremony in Florida. A memorial service on June 9, 2005, was attended by friends and family from across the country and as far away as Italy.
The identifiable remains of Argel and the four members of his flight crew, Major William "Brian" Downs, 40, Captain Jeremy Freques, 26, Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, 26, and Iraqi Air Force pilot Captain Ali Hussam Abass Alrubaeye, ave already been returned to their respective families. The Air Force is holding the group burial because some of the remains could not be identified. All five names will be on the grave marker.
In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, Iraqi Air Force Captain Ali Abass is shown. The remains of Abass, along with four U.S. special operations airmen, Major William 'Brian' Downs, 40, of Winchester, Virginia, Captains Jeremy Fresques, 26, of Clarkdale, Arizona, and Derek Argel, 28, of Lompoc, California, and Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, 26, of Spanaway, Washington, were buried, Thursday, August 11, 2005, at Arlington National Cemetery. Their plane crashed May 30, 2005, on a mission to find and survey remote landing sites about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad
U.S. Air Force flag bearers carry American flags, and an Iraqi flag, during funeral services in honor of U.S. special operations airmen, Major William 'Brian' Downs, Captains Jeremy Fresques, 26, and Derek Argel, 28, and Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, 26,and Iraqi pilot Captain Ali Abass, Thursday, August 11, 2005, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery.
A U.S. Air Force flag bearer carries an Iraqi flag as he follows a cassion carrying the remains of U.S. special operations airmen, and Iraqi pilot Captain Ali Abass, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery.
Members of a U.S. Air Force Honor Guard carry the remains of four U.S. special operations airmen and an Iraqi pilot killed when their plane crashed in Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005 during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery.
U.S. Air Force Honor Guard carries the remains of U.S. special operations airmen, Major William 'Brian' Downs, 40, Captains Jeremy Fresques, 26, Derek Argel, 28, and Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, 26, and Iraqi pilot Captain Ali Abass, Thursday, August 11, 2005 at Arlington National Cemetery.
Lindsay Fresques, second right, holds an American flag that was presented to her by Lieutenant General Michael W. Wooley, left, during funeral services for her husband Captain Jeremy. J. Fresques., at a funeral service, Thursday, August 11, 2005, at Arlington National Cemetery. Sitting with resques are her father-in-law, Nick Fresques, and Debra Bastion, right, mother of Captain Derek M. Argel.
Honor guard Airmen carry the remains of four U.S. Airmen and an Iraqi Airman who died May 30, 2005, in an aircraft accident in Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Amber K. Whittington
Major General Kamal Abdul-Sattar Barzanjy, Iraqi Air Force commander, presents the Iraq flag to General and Mrs. Hussam Abass Ali, the parents of Captain Ali Hussam Abass Alrubaeye, during a funeral held here August 11, 2005, for the captain and four U.S. Airmen who died May 30, 2005, in an aircraft accident in Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Amber K. Whittington
Linda Crate, mother of Staff Sergeant Casey Crate, reflects during the August 11,2005, funeral held here for her son and three other U.S. Airmen and an Iraqi Airman who died May 30, 2005, in an aircraft accident in Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Amber K. Whittington