Posted on 01/28/2007 7:15:28 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham
Navy identifies sailors killed in San Diego helicopter crash
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - Military officials on Sunday released the identities of a female sailor from Southern California and the three other members of a combat squadron killed when a helicopter crashed in the ocean off the San Diego coast.
Lt. j.g. Laura J. Mankey of West Hills, in northern Los Angeles County, died in Friday's crash during a training mission, according to a Navy statement.
Also killed were Lt. Adam A. Dyer, 28, of Lafayette, La.; Petty Officer 1st Class Cory J. Helman, 27, of New Richmond, Wis.; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher M. Will, 29, of Warren, Mich. They were members of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 assigned to Naval Air Station North Island.
Their MH-60S helicopter was on a training mission off the USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious assault craft, when it went into the ocean at about 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Will was pulled from the water shortly after the crash but died while being treated on the Bonhomme Richard.
A recovery mission for the three other bodies was ongoing Sunday near San Clemente Island, about 50 miles off the coast, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Meydenbauer. The search for survivors was called off Saturday afternoon after rescuers determined the water was too cold to sustain human life, Meydenbauer said.
Helman's father, Jim, said Navy officials told him Friday night that his son was on the helicopter and on Saturday night officially pronounced him dead. Cory Helman was married for four years but had no children, his father said.
Meydenbauer said the Navy knew the location of the sunken helicopter, which was at a depth of 3,600 feet, but hadn't decided whether to bring the wreckage up from the ocean floor.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Meydenbauer did not know what type of maneuver the helicopter was performing at the time.
The USS Bonhomme Richard took Marines to Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami. The ship was training with two other Navy ships, the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the guided cruiser USS Chosin.
The MH-60 Sierra is a twin-turbine craft based on the UH-60L Black Hawk and the Navy's SH-60B Seahawk, according to the manufacturer, United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft. It is designed to operate off aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and frigates, ranging up to 100 nautical miles from the ship.
Leni
Double Amen. Interesting name for the destroyer:
http://www.navysite.de/dd/ddg93.htm
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NEVER FORGET
The Words
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~ALOHARONNIE
The Pictures
http://www.RickRescorla.com/The%20Statue.htm
The Heroism
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361
NEVER FORGET
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Godspeed to our lost shipmates. May God bless and comfort their families.
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