"When I heard about that (the crash), I flipped out," she recalls. "I was so afraid he was involved with that somehow."

Yesterday — in the chaos of 69 Marines reuniting with their families after a nearly 10-month deployment — the Turners, with heads touching, eyes closed and 3-year-old Logan wrapped up in a hug, found a moment of pure joy just in being together again.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through," Katy Turner said of the deployment, quickly adding: "I'm not the hero — he is."

When the big, troop-carrying helicopter went down on Jan. 26 in a sandstorm, Hawai'i squadron members were sent to the crash site. Twenty-six Marine infantrymen and a sailor from Kane'ohe Bay were on board the downed chopper.

"It was tough, very tough," said 1st Lt. Brian Friestman, 33, a helicopter pilot from San Antonio. "It was a sobering experience. We ended up pulling the guys out."

He knew one of the pilots from flight school.

"Obviously, the infantry Marines were part of the (31st Marine Expeditionary Unit) with us, so that's part of your family," he said.

Lt. Col. Denny Mireles said it was a traumatic experience for some of the younger Marines.

Their learning curve went straight up," he said.

The approximately 70 Hawai'i Marines — drawn from Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadrons 463, 363 and 362; Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 24; and HMT-301, a training squadron — left Hawai'i for Okinawa in early July as part of a regular rotation to the Japanese island, and deployed to the Middle East with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

About 900 Kane'ohe Bay Marines with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, were the battalion landing team for the 31st MEU. The Hawai'i Marines, who took part in the Battle of Fallujah in November, have been returning from Okinawa over the past couple of weeks and will continue to return this month.

Eight 1/3 Marines were killed in a suicide car bombing on Oct. 30, and another 11 were killed in Iraq — most in Fallujah.

The six Sea Stallions that made the trip, Vietnam-era helicopters that can carry 37 troops or 8,000 pounds of cargo, were slated to be a ship-based reserve force. But that changed when the Hawai'i helicopters were conducting two weeks of desert training in Kuwait.

"Once we got ashore, they told us to go north (to Iraq)," said Mireles, who commanded the composite unit, Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadron 363, Detachment Alpha.

Based out of Al Asad air base about midway between Baghdad and the Syrian border, the CH-53Ds operated in the 33,000 square miles of Al Anbar province in western Iraq, ferrying Marines and supplies.

Mireles estimates that the helicopters, always flying in pairs, transported more than 400,000 pounds of cargo and 15,000 passengers.

Among the missions the Hawai'i detachment took part in was a night raid that was the biggest helicopter assault for that U.S. force rotation: six CH-46, two CH-53D and Huey and Cobra helicopters, along with fixed-wing aircraft. The Hawai'i helicopters flew out of Camp Al Qaim near the Syrian border.

Although helicopter crews sometimes saw tracer rounds arcing in their direction at night, base officials said there were no Marines from the detachment wounded in action.

Keeping up with parts needs for the CH-53Ds, which last deployed to combat in Operation Desert Storm, was tough, Mireles said.

"We worked seven days a week, 12 (hours) on, 12 off. During the time we were in Iraq we had one day off. That was it," Mireles said. "Twelve on, 12 off was the advertised, but these guys were working 14 hours just to keep them going."

The CH-53Ds are scheduled to be replaced in 2013 by the tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft still in testing, Mireles said.

Cody White, who waited yesterday in a Kane'ohe Bay hangar for his wife, Sgt. Jennifer White, with their 2-year-old daughter, Shanna, said the deployment has been trying.

"Her missing her mom," Cody White said, gesturing to his daughter.

The helicopter crash Jan. 26 in Iraq, along with other deaths, made that the deadliest day for American forces since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003.

Family members of the dead Marines are awaiting the results of an investigation and continuing to try and cope with their losses. Families have been told it could take up to six months for results. The crash is believed to have been an accident in a sandstorm that obscured visibility.

"Sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's not so good. In fact, a lot of times, it's not so good. It's not something that's going to go away," said Manfred Klein, a Michigan man whose 34-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Allan Klein, died in the crash.

Rob Hopper recently disinterred the remains of his 21-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Brian C. Hopper, because additional remains of his were identified through DNA testing for burial.

"It's just like going through it all over again," said Rob Hopper, who lives in Arkansas. "If they are just now DNA identifying all the guys, it's going to take a while to go through all the stuff in the helicopter (to determine the cause of the crash)."