Posted on 08/26/2002 8:06:42 AM PDT by robowombat
Memorial service set for Apache pilots
By Jeremy Kirk, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Monday, August 26, 2002
CAMP PAGE, South Korea — The bodies of two pilots who crashed in their Apache helicopter were taken to Yongsan Garrison on Saturday, an Army official said.
An official from Japan will come to South Korea to perform the autopsies, said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, 8th Army public affairs officer. Typically, officials from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office perform autopsies on U.S. Forces Korea personnel.
U.S. military officials recovered the bodies of 1st Lt. Dustin Shannon, 23, of Vassar, Mich.; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Wallenburg, 40, Fort Walton Beach, Fla. A memorial is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday at the hangar of 6th Cavalry Brigade at Camp Wonju.
The crashed AH-64A model is marooned on a hillside above the Joonang Expressway, about 13 miles south of Camp Page in Chunchon. U.S. soldiers are guarding the crash site during the investigation by U.S. Army Safety Center officials from Fort Rucker, Ala.
“The site will be secured 24 hours a day until the accident investigation team releases the aircraft back to us so we can recover it off the mountain,” Boylan said.
Boylan said he could not estimate the time that will be needed for the investigation.
“I couldn’t even begin to guess how long it could take for them to come to a conclusion,” he said. “I usually tell people it will be done when it’s done.”
The Apache crashed while flying a low-altitude night training mission. The helicopter left Camp Page and was headed to Camp Eagle in Wonju when the military lost contact with it about 11 p.m.
It was declared missing at 12:30 a.m. Thursday. A 2nd Infantry Division helicopter spotted the wreckage Friday afternoon.
“These types of investigations to are critical to finding what happened during the sequence so we can prevent these kind of things from happening in the future,” Boylan said.
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