Wash. soldier among 4 killed in Iraq helicopter crash
A soldier from Colville, Wash. was among four troops killed when two helicopters crashed Monday northern Iraq, the Defense Department said Thursday.
Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin H. Todd, 29, was killed when the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter he was in went down in Kirkuk.
The other soldiers killed were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Philip E. Windorski, Jr., 35, of Bovey, Minn., Chief Warrant Officer Matthew G. Kelley, 30, of Cameron, Mo., and Chief Warrant Officer Joshua M. Tillery, 31, of Beaverton, Ore.
Monday's crash was the deadliest single incident for U.S. troops since Sept. 18, when seven American soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in the southern desert west of Basra.
On Wednesday, a Sunni insurgent group claimed responsibility for downing two the U.S. helicopters that crashed Monday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors extremist Web sites.
The U.S. military denied the claim, saying "there were no reports of enemy action or contact prior to accident."
Maj. Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said an investigation was under way to identify the cause.
The U.S. military relies heavily on helicopters and other aircraft to ferry troops, dignitaries and supplies to avoid the threat of ambushes and roadside bombs in Iraq.
At least 70 U.S. helicopters have gone down since the war started in March 2003, according to military figures. Of those, 36 were confirmed to have been shot down.
Most recently, a helicopter made a hard landing on Nov. 15 after hitting wires in the northern city of Mosul, killing two American soldiers.
A Soviet-made civilian cargo plane also crashed in November after reporting a malfunction west of Baghdad, leaving the seven crew members dead.
The January 2005 crash of a U.S. Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter in western Iraq claimed 31 lives - the biggest single U.S. loss of life in the Iraq war. Investigators determined the crash was not due to hostile fire.
Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin H. Todd, 29, was killed when the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter he was in went down in Kirkuk.
The other soldiers killed were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Philip E. Windorski, Jr., 35, of Bovey, Minn., Chief Warrant Officer Matthew G. Kelley, 30, of Cameron, Mo., and Chief Warrant Officer Joshua M. Tillery, 31, of Beaverton, Ore.
Monday's crash was the deadliest single incident for U.S. troops since Sept. 18, when seven American soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in the southern desert west of Basra.
On Wednesday, a Sunni insurgent group claimed responsibility for downing two the U.S. helicopters that crashed Monday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors extremist Web sites.
The U.S. military denied the claim, saying "there were no reports of enemy action or contact prior to accident."
Maj. Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said an investigation was under way to identify the cause.
The U.S. military relies heavily on helicopters and other aircraft to ferry troops, dignitaries and supplies to avoid the threat of ambushes and roadside bombs in Iraq.
At least 70 U.S. helicopters have gone down since the war started in March 2003, according to military figures. Of those, 36 were confirmed to have been shot down.
Most recently, a helicopter made a hard landing on Nov. 15 after hitting wires in the northern city of Mosul, killing two American soldiers.
A Soviet-made civilian cargo plane also crashed in November after reporting a malfunction west of Baghdad, leaving the seven crew members dead.
The January 2005 crash of a U.S. Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter in western Iraq claimed 31 lives - the biggest single U.S. loss of life in the Iraq war. Investigators determined the crash was not due to hostile fire.