Posted on: Monday, June 21, 2004

'Surgery went well' for Schofield helicopter pilot

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The co-pilot of a Schofield Barracks helicopter that crashed in Iraq, a 1983 Campbell High School graduate who lives in Makakilo, had surgery in Germany for a broken back and leg, family members said.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Claude J. Boushey Sr. underwent 12 hours of surgery to fuse damaged vertebrae and insert a titanium rod in his left leg, his wife Kelly said by e-mail.

"All I know is the surgery went well," Jessi Atkinson, Kelly's stepsister, said from O'ahu.

"They weren't sure he would be able to walk again," she said, adding the prognosis for that is good now. "We're just lucky he's alive."

Boushey's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior went down June 13 in a swampy area near Taji Air Base north of Baghdad. Lt. Dwight Mears, 25, was co-piloting the two-man observation helicopter at about 100 feet when warning lights came on and it crashed, Mears' family said.

Mears, from Corvallis, Ore., also underwent surgery for a "burst" vertebrae. Boushey received back compression fractures.

More than 20 Kiowa Warrior helicopters from the 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment were shipped to Iraq in December.

A military statement said there was no indication the aircraft crashed because of hostile fire, but an investigation is under way. Another U.S. helicopter was in the vicinity of the crash, and the pilots were quickly rescued, Mears' father said.

The Army sent Kelly Boushey and her mother-in-law, Reiko Koizumi, who lives in Honolulu, to Germany to be with Boushey.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.