News-Info-Alerts

Re: Service For Pilots Held

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 26, 2002

"Two U.S. Pilots Honored in Memorial Service
By Soo-Jeong Lee Associated Press Writer


WONJU, South Korea (AP) - About 250 tearful mourners attended a memorial service Monday for two U.S. Army pilots whose helicopter crashed into a hillside on a nighttime mission in South Korea.

The AH-64A Apache attack helicopter crashed Thursday after taking off from Camp Page, a U.S. military base at Chuncheon, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the capital, Seoul.

The two-seat chopper was found Friday above a car tunnel near Chuncheon, with the bodies of the pilots, 1st Lt. Dustin Shannon, 23, of Vassar, Michigan, and Chief Warrant Officer James Wallenburg, 40, from Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

"Two great aviators and officers were tragically taken away from us," Lt. Col. Jerry Egbert told the service held at an aircraft hangar at the pilots' home base, Camp Eagle at Wonju, southeast of Seoul.

"We must ensure that the lessons learned from this accident are never forgotten, for they gave their lives defending freedom."

Colleagues and friends, some weeping, paid their respects at the hourlong memorial service, saluting a U.S. flag that formed a backdrop and filing past a makeshift altar, on which helmets, boots and other military equipment used by the dead pilots were displayed. Riflemen fired a 21-shot salute.

Also on display were personal belongings, including five photographs from each of the two fallen pilots. One photograph showed Wallenburg smiling brightly with his South Korean wife and daughter.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. The U.S. military has said there were apparently no explosions or flames after impact. It has grounded some 70 Apache helicopters based in South Korea pending the results of the investigation.

About 37,000 U.S. troops are based in South Korea as a deterrent against communist North Korea.

AH-64A Apaches are made by Boeing. They are the American army's main attack helicopter and were used in the 1989 invasion of Panama, the 1991 Gulf War and during peacekeeping in Bosnia.

© 2002, Media General Inc. "