U.S. Army soldiers and their families were shaken by the news that an Army Black Hawk helicopter had gone down late Tuesday off Oahu’s Kaena Point with five crew members aboard.
Word spread Wednesday through the military community in Wahiawa that five soldiers from Wheeler Army Airfield, adjacent to Schofield Barracks, were missing at sea.
Maggie Marcelli, whose husband is an active-duty Army chef at Schofield Barracks, received frantic calls from her daughter on the mainland.
“(My husband’s) flown in the Black Hawks a couple times to the Big Island for training. It hits close to home whenever anything like that happens,” she said on her way to an appointment in Wahiawa. “It’s awful. It definitely tugs at my heart in a big way for sure. I pray to God they find them.”
The helicopter was flying with two pilots and three crew from the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.
One was identified as Kentucky native Abigail Milam, a Black Hawk repair technician who lives in Waipahu. She is a graduate of Fleming Neon High School in eastern Kentucky and studied at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, according to Milam’s Facebook page. “May my heart be kind, my mind fierce and my spirit brave,” Milam wrote on her Facebook profile.
Milam’s wife, Tiffany Marie, confirmed via Facebook that Milam was on board the helicopter. “Please say a prayer for my wife and for the other members on board the helicopter that went down,” Tiffany Marie wrote in a post. “Please let them be found safe.”
Richard Ruiz, a 21-year-old Army private first class stationed at Schofield, said service members are “just really sad about the situation.”
“I’m more shocked (about) how it happened and how they haven’t found them yet,” Ruiz said on his way to get lunch in Wahiawa Wednesday. “They should’ve at least found them by now. Everyone is praying that they’re OK. We want to make sure our guys are fine and they’re in good condition … but it all comes down to when we find them.”
Alisianna Myers, 29, who lives at Helemano Military Reservation on the North Shore with her husband, who works in military intelligence, said one of the crew members’ wives, whose name she didn’t disclose, is desperately asking for prayers.
“We’re all a tight-knit community. We’re not all familiar with our surroundings, so we tend to become each other’s family,” she said. “At this moment, I think everybody’s feeling hopeful. Hopeful that they’re going to be OK. Right now I think hope’s all anybody’s got. We just have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
When asked to describe the sentiment in the military community, Aylizza Westphal, who lives on Schofield with her husband, an Army infantryman, said simply: “Sad … for their families.”
“Everyone just starts thinking about everybody that was involved and their families,” Westphal said. “I guess you always just think — or hope — that it’s not your husband.”
Gov. David Ige released a statement Wednesday, saying the state is offering support as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
“Our hearts are heavy as search and rescue crews work at the site of an Army helicopter crash off of Kaena Point,” Ige said. “We stand with our U.S. Army ohana during this difficult time. Our thoughts are with the families and unit members of the soldiers on board.”
Marcelli, whose son is also an active-duty serviceman on the mainland, said that she is concerned by the second nighttime military helicopter crash off Oahu in less than two years.
On Jan. 14, 2016, 12 Marines were killed when two CH-53 Super Stallion helicopters collided off Oahu’s North Shore during a training mission.
“We had the Marine helicopters crash … and then we’ve had different choppers so it’s really scary,” Marcelli said. “I am concerned because that is to me a couple of different instances where equipment or something happened and it doesn’t sound like the weather conditions were that much of a factor.”
Reaid Leonard, an 18-year-old infantryman stationed at Schofield, added: “If we die, it’s supposed to be for our country in battle, not because of an accident.”
