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| Boots, helmets, rifles and tears at separate memorial services at the Main Post Chapel at Schofield Barracks remembered the four soldiers of the 25th Aviation Regiment (above) and the 11th Field Artillery Regiment (photo below).
Army photo |
 Memorial page: Soldiers' Last Salute
Video of yesterday's memorial services in small (1.9 Mb), large (12.7 Mb) and streaming formats
Memorial fund created for families
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer
The tears came in quiet moments. When unit comrades caught each other’s eyes across the throng of cropped heads. Between men who had served together, joked together, raised babies together and now tried to comfort each other.
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| The memorial service for Maj. Robert L. Olson and Spc. Rafael Olvera-Rodriguez of the 11th Field Artillery Regiment.
Army photo |
They tried not to let them show. To wipe them away in private. Behind raised hands. Under tipped caps. Away from the distant glare of cameras.
And so, as hundreds of soldiers and their families gathered at the Schofield Barracks chapel yesterday to say an emotional goodbye to six of their own, the face the Army showed the world was one of strength and stoicism in the face of loss.
In two hushed and moving memorial services, the six men who died in Monday’s collision of two Black Hawk helicopters during a massive training exercise in Kahuku were eulogized as "truly amazing men" and "simply great Americans" — who not only thrived in positions of leadership but were there for buddies in times of crisis.
They were Maj. Robert L. Olson; Chief Warrant Officer 4 George P. Perry; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Gregory I. Montgomery; Sgt. Thomas E. Barber; Spc. Bob D. MacDonald; Spc. Rafael Olvera-Rodriguez.
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Sgt. Thomas E. Barber
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Spc. Bob D. MacDonald
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Chief Warrant Officer Gregory I. Montgomery
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Spc. Rafael "Ralph" Olvera-Rodriguez
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| Maj. Robert L. Olson |
Chief Warrant Officer George P. Perry |
"He was the best friend someone could have," Spc. Brian S. Frizek said of Olvera-Rodriguez as more than 1,000 people crowded the chapel, adjacent hall and front lawn to honor members of their military "family" in the second service of the day.
"He was a sounding board when you’re having problems ... He would never pass people by."
Maj. Steven P. Heidecker remembered his friend Olson from their early days at West Point when Olson was a young hockey player from Minnesota struggling to make the academy’s traveling team. Years later they both returned to West Point to train cadets and provide leadership themselves, chuckling at the irony of how they had come back — older, wiser · and balder.
The Army units to which the six belonged handled the services: one at 9 a.m. for the four men from the 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Infantry Division; a second at 11:30 a.m. for the two men from the 2-11 Field Artillery Battalion.
For each service the altar held a touching display of spit-shined boots, dog tags, helmets and M-16 rifles with bayonets pointed downward in a symbolic gesture meaning they would never be used again by these men.
Turning to the two widows during the second service, the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Wayne L. Detwiler Jr., said their husbands’ legacies would never die.
"Ecclesiastes tells us that for everything there is a season," said Detwiler. "This is the time for hope and for celebrating their contributions.
"Your husbands live on in every soldier," he said. "They made the world a better place."
As a pregnant Army wife rocked her fussy baby to sleep in her arms, Staff Sgt. Jamie Whitehorn took the microphone to sing the Christian "Heal Me," a quest for comfort in the hardest of times.
Chaplain (Maj.) Gregory J. Estes echoed the same theme.
"Even though I cannot see the sunlight I can see and feel its effect," he told the assemblage. "Let’s entrust our fallen soldiers, and each other, to the Lord and to his care."
In a poignant close to each of the services, a ritual "Last Roll Call" brought fresh tears.
In a sure, clear voice 1st Sgt. Robert D. Ritch called each man’s name. Once. Twice. Three times.
After each he paused and, for a moment, waited.
There was no answer.
Perry services today
Services for Perry, a graduate of St. Louis High School, will be held today at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church. Visitation will be 9 a.m. to noon with Mass to follow.
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