Last of troops killed in Army helicopter crash ID'd

Kevin Robinson | Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Four soldiers killed in Black Hawk crash identified The Lousiana National Guard shared information about the four soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off of the coast of Florida. Seven Marines were also killed in the crash.

NAVARRE BEACH, Fla. — The names of four Louisiana National Guardsmen who died here when their helicopter crashed during a training exercise were released Monday, the last of 11 troops killed in the incident.

The two pilots had been with the Guard for more than 20 years. One had more than 6,000 flight hours.

"These Guardsmen represent the best of us," said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, the Louisiana National Guard's adjutant general, said in Hammond, La. "These brave men died doing something they loved. May we all be so lucky."

The men, who were pilots and crew of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, were on temporary assignment to Eglin Air Force Base about 50 miles east of Pensacola, Fla.

They were supporting Marines who were part of a team of special operations forces who had been rappelling down ropes into water off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. The Marines then were to reach Santa Rosa Island by swimming or in small rubber boats, a Marine official said Friday.

They had done the drill hours earlier in daylight, but by 8:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, dense fog had rolled in. They and the crew of a second Black Hawk made a decision to abort the nighttime training.

One helicopter landed safely. The other hit the waters of the Santa Rosa Sound at a high rate of speed and sank in 25 feet of water, killing all who had been aboard.

The Guardsmen who died were from the Louisiana National Guard's 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion, based in Hammond:

• Staff Sgt. Lance Bergeron, 40, of Thibodaux, La., enlisted in the Marines in 1998 before joining the Guard as Black Hawk repairman in 2001. He also was a flight instructor and was married with two children.

"He was a subject-matter expert in his job who exhibited an excitement (in) learning new skills and educating new unit members on the UH-60 aircraft," said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Marquez, Bergeron's platoon sergeant in the A Company.

• Staff Sgt. Thomas Florich, 26, of Fairfax County, Va., enlisted in the Louisiana National Guard in 2007 as a helicopter repairman. He was posthumously promoted from sergeant to staff sergeant and was married.

"His dedication to duty and loyalty was without equal, always ready to accept any mission and extra duty in order to help the unit meet the mission," Marquez said.

• Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Wayne Griffin Jr., 37, of Delhi, La., joined the Louisiana Guard in 1994, deployed to Iraq twice and was the battalion's standardization pilot with more than 6,000 flight hours, including 1,000 in combat. He was married and had four children.

"G. Wayne Griffin was born to be an Army aviator," said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Reggie Lane, commander of Detachment 38, Operational Support Airlift Command. "He had a tremendous passion for flying, and a God-given natural ability to fly both helicopters and airplanes and to teach others to be the best aviators and crewmembers that they could be."

• Chief Warrant Officer 4 George David Strother, 44, of Alexandria, La., served two stints in the Louisiana National Guard, from 1988 to 2007 and again starting in 2009. He also was an instructor pilot with more than 2,400 combat hours, including more than 700 combat hours.

His wife, son and step-daughter survive him.

"To describe Dave Strother as a big personality would not be accurate. He was more like a force of nature that could best be observed and marveled at, never opposed or altered," said Maj. Andre Jeansonne, commander of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment.

All but Florich had served two tours of duty in the Iraq war, from 2004 to 2005 and 2008 to 2009, Guard officials said. The soldiers also had deployed during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the BP oil spill, Mississippi River flooding and other domestic missions to help residents.

Military burials with full honors were being planned for the dead, Curtis said. Across Louisiana, flags are flying at half staff until sunset March 20 to honor all the troops who died, including these Marines, whose name were released Friday:

• Staff Sgt. Marcus Bawol, 27, of Warren, Mich.

• Staff Sgt. Trevor P. Blaylock, 29, of Lake Orion, Mich.

• Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn, 33, of Queens, N.Y.

• Staff Sgt. Kerry Michael Kemp, 27, of Port Washington, Wis.

• Master Sgt. Thomas Saunders, 33, of Camp Lejeune, N.C.

• Staff Sgt. Andrew Seif, 26, of Holland, Mich.

• Capt. Stanford Henry Shaw III, 31, of Basking Ridge, N.J.

Salvage operations over the weekend retrieved the last large pieces of the helicopter and bodies of two Guardsmen that had not been recovered previously. The identity of the final missing soldier was confirmed Sunday night, Curtis said.

An investigation into the crash — likely the most deadly since Aug. 6, 2011, when 30 American troops and eight Afghans died after the Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crash in the war in Afghanistan — is expected to take months to complete.

Troops' training is resuming Monday, Curtis said.

"You have to show you care, but you can't wither," he said. "We will continue to train and move forward."

Contributing: WWL-TV, New Orleans; The Associated Press