Some troops killed in helo crash identified

Some troops killed in helo crash identified
The Associated Press and staff report
Posted : Sunday Aug 7, 2011 16:42:11 EDT
Reports identifying some of the U.S. troops killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan began circulating Sunday.

Thirty Americans and eight Afghans were killed in the crash, making it the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

The following is a collection of reports from the Associated Press where family members identified some of the Americans killed in the crash.

AIR FORCE TECH SGT. JOHN W. BROWN LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

ARMY SPECIALIST 4 SPENCER C. DUNCAN OLATHE, Kan.

ARMY SGT. PATRICK HAMBURGER OMAHA, Neb.

PETTY OFFICER FIRST CLASS MICHAEL STRANGE, PHILADELPHIA

AARON CARSON VAUGHN NASHVILLE, Tenn.

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Some troops killed in helo crash identified

Special Operation Soldier Killed

Also

Green Forest AR Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan helicopter crash
U.S. Navy SEAL Tommy Ratzlaff was a 1995 graduate of Green Forest High School.
Chad Plein, KY3 News
cplein@ky3.com
4:23 p.m. CDT, August 7, 2011

GREEN FOREST, Ark.—
Family members tell KY3 News, U.S. Navy SEAL Tommy Ratzlaff of Green Forest, Arkansas, was killed in action in the Afghanistan helicopter crash.

We're told it was Ratzlaff's childhood dream to serve his country. In 1995, Ratzlaff joined the Navy out of high school and Ratzlaff's sister told KY3's Chad Plein, Tommy would appreciate the well-wishes his family has received but added, "Tommy would want the focus of his sacrifice to be on the cause, not on the sacrifice itself."

The family received news of Ratzlaff's death by the U.S. Navy Saturday around 10:30 a.m. Services have yet to be finalized.

U.S. Navy SEAL Tommy Ratzlaff leaves behind a wife, two boys aged 11 and six, and a child on-the-way; a baby girl due in November. He was 35-years-old.
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Green Forest AR Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan

In Copter Crash in Afghanistan, a Double Loss for Shreveport
By THOM SHANKER
Published: August 7, 2011
WASHINGTON — The helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 30 American servicemen, including 22 members of the Navy’s most elite counterterrorism unit, brought the pain of a double loss to a Louisiana river port on Sunday.

One town, Shreveport. Two high school friends, Robert James Reeves and Jonas Kelsall. Both overcame extreme tests and rigorous training to serve on the same elite Seal team. Both were assigned the same mission, and put in the same helicopter, only to perish together over the weekend.
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Double Loss for Shreveport

Parents share memories of son killed in Afghanistan chopper crash
By Oscar Valenzuela - bio | email

Robert and Mary Vickers sat down at their home on Maui to share a few memories about their son Kraig.

Kraig's father had coached his son's high school wrestling team where he excelled, and wasn't too surprised when their son told him and his wife Mary he had some news.

"He came home one day and informed us he had enlisted." said his mother Mary.

Not one to miss an opportunity for humor, Kraig showed his father a coffee mug that the Navy recruiter had given him.

"I said what's with this, you know the coffee mug? 'I signed up' he said, 'if I sign up for an extra year they'll give me another cup.' He liked to make people laugh. I told him there's only one class clown in this family, that was me but he out did me." said his father Robert.

But Kraig Vickers new job was no laughing matter. He had signed on to be a part of the Navy's explosive ordinance disposal team, a bomb expert.

Robert Vickers explained part of what his son did for a living. "Part of his job was to set up the training for the Seals so he would go in and set up the booby traps and stuff like that."
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Parents share memories of son killed in Afghanistan chopper crash

Blanding man among Navy SEALs killed in Afghanistan
Published: Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011 8:07 p.m. MDT
By Pat Reavy
and Sandra Yi, Deseret News

BLANDING, San Juan County — Jason Workman knew since he was a young boy that he wanted to be a Navy SEAL.

He knew the odds of making the elite fighting force were slim. Workman not only accomplished his goal, but he also became a member of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6.

Saturday, Petty Officer First Class Jason Workman, 32, was among the 31 Americans killed, including 22 members of SEAL Team 6, when their helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Afghanistan.

Members of the SEAL Team 6 were responsible for killing Osama bin Laden.

Sunday, the small southern Utah town of Blanding, where flags flew at half staff, was in mourning over the loss of their hometown hero. The town of about 3,000 people has already lost two other servicemen in the war.

"This community loved what this young man was doing for us, as well as our other soldiers are doing for us," said Blanding Mayor Toni Turk.

Workman was a man that even if residents hadn't personally met, they were proud to call him one of their own.

"We are so proud of someone like Jason being from a small town to become an elite special forces soldier," said his childhood friend Tate Bennett.
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Blanding man among Navy SEALs killed in Afghanistan

Three Area Soldiers Among the 30 Killed in Taliban Chopper Attack
Three Area Soldiers Among the 30 Killed in Taliban Chopper Attack
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
The U.S. Army says three men from the Kansas City area were killed in the Chinook helicopter attack that took the lives of 30 American soldiers on Friday. Officials have not yet released the names of two of the men, pending family notification.

Those who knew the 21-year-old say he was a soldier through and through. Friends say he could've taken apart the Chinook helicopter he was on and put it back together again. Those same friends are having trouble keeping it together as they deal with the loss of Duncan.

Kansas boy wants world to recognize his fallen father
By Moni Basu, CNN
August 9, 2011 7:14 a.m. EDT

Bryan Nichols, left, is seen sitting with four of his Army buddies in front of a military aircraft.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Braydon Nichols, 10, sent in a photo of his father to CNN's iReport
His father, Bryan Nichols, was killed when the Chinook went down in Afghanistan
Braydon couldn't understand why the Navy SEALs were drawing attention, but not his dad
Bryan Nichols was to have come home on leave in nine days

(CNN) -- A young boy in Kansas was among millions in America who watched the horrifying news this past weekend about the Chinook that went down in Afghanistan's Wardak province.

That boy in Kansas soon found out that his father, a U.S. Army pilot, was aboard the doomed helicopter.

In the midst of his world shattering, he could not understand why the Navy SEALs drew so much attention. There were 30 Americans on board that Chinook. Why wasn't anyone mentioning his father, a chief warrant officer with Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 155th Aviation Regiment?

So he sent in a photograph to CNN's iReport of his dad, Bryan Nichols, sitting with four of his Army buddies in front of a military aircraft.

"My father was one of the 30 US Soldiers killed in Afghanistan yesterday with the Seals rescue mission," he wrote. "My father was the pilot of the chinook. I have seen other pictures of victims from this deadly mission and wish you would include a picture of my father. He is the farthest to the left."
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Kansas boy wants world to recognize his fallen father

Update: Iowan killed in copter crash always wanted to be a SEAL
Written by
TIFFANY DE MASTERS

Jon Tumilson always wanted to be a U.S. Navy SEAL.

“He was going to be a Navy SEAL since I can’t remember when,” said Jan Stowe of Rockford, who has been a neighbor of the Tumilson family for 33 years. Tumilson, 35, was one of 30 Americans to die Saturday in Afghanistan when their helicopter was shot down.

“We watched him grow up,” Stowe said Sunday. “We had a tightknit group of kids in the neighborhood. … They played together every day.”

Family members declined to comment Sunday beyond confirming Tumilson’s death in the most deadly attack on American forces since the war in Afghanistan began 10 years ago.
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Iowan killed in copter crash always wanted to be a SEAL

Fallen Navy SEAL was ‘special kid’

‘He died doing what he loved’

By Christine McConville
Monday, August 8, 2011

The Hyannis-raised Navy SEAL killed Saturday in the deadly helicopter crash in Afghanistan was just a little boy when he decided to become part of the elite Navy commando unit.

By age 36, Kevin Houston had more than accomplished his goal. During his three tours in Afghanistan, he’d earned a Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars and numerous other military honors, a longtime Cape Cod friend said yesterday.

“He died doing what he loved,” said Chris Kelly of Osterville, a Vietnam veteran who was a mentor to the younger Houston. “And he wouldn’t have done it any other way. He went out to rescue his buddies, and he got shot down.”
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Fallen Navy SEAL was special kid

Navy SEAL Community Handles Grief Quietly
August 7, 2011

Stamford Man Died In Chinook Attack In Afghanistan
Brian Bill Is Remembered By Friends, Family And Comrades For His High Personal Standards, Strong Work Ethic And Selflessness

August 08, 2011|By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY, cdempsey@courant.com, The Hartford Courant
Brian Bill was a skier, pilot and triathlete who aspired to become an astronaut. He was also a member of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs fighting in Afghanistan.

The 1997 graduate of Trinity Catholic High in Stamford was one of 30 U.S. troops killed over the weekend when a Chinook helicopter crashed after being fired on in Afghanistan.
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Stamford Man Died In Chinook Attack In Afghanistan

Former Hays resident killed in Afghanistan

8/9/2011
By GARY DEMUTH Salina Journal

HAYS -- Bryan Nichols, the pilot of the Chinook helicopter shot down Saturday in Afghanistan, was remembered as someone who didn't make a decision without a lot of thought.

"Once he made his mind up, he was on a path and didn't deviate from it," said Kathy Taylor, Nichols' former guidance counselor at Thomas More Prep-Marian High School in Hays, where Nichols graduated in 1998.

"He checked things out and knew what he was doing when he enlisted right after high school," she said.

After joining the Army Reserves, Nichols studied to become a helicopter pilot.

"He flew hundreds of missions, brought groups in and out," Taylor said.

Nichols, 31, a Kansas City resident, was among the 30 Americans killed when their North Atlantic Treaty Organization CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Wardak province west of Kabul in eastern Afghanistan.
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Former Hays resident killed in Afghanistan

Spc. Spencer Duncan