Marines' families hope for answers
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Etterling's body is back in Wheelersburg, Ohio, his family is making funeral arrangements, and the 22-year-old Marine soon will be interred with full military honors at a local cemetery.
A memorial service honoring Petty Officer 3rd Class John D. House will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Chapel at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. House, 28, deployed with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment to Iraq and died in last Wednesday's helicopter crash. He had a son who was born Christmas Eve, and his wife lives in Hawai'i. The public is invited to attend, and should enter through Nimitz Gate, Pearl Harbor's main gate, and be prepared to show a driver's license, proof of insurance, registration and safety check.
Now, his father would like to know how he died in Iraq.
Services
"I'd like to know what happened, and if it absolutely bears out that they are not shining me on and it was a crash in a sandstorm," William Etterling said. "I'm a little leery that one chopper went down in a sandstorm and the other didn't."
Etterling can understand if the CH-53E Super Stallion was shot down last Wednesday in western Iraq. All 31 on board were killed. Twenty-six Marines and a sailor were from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Kane'ohe Bay.
"But if they just drove it straight into the ground. ... I'm not sure what happened and why they were flying without lights. That's somewhat suspect,"
Etterling said. "If it's a hot zone, I guess that would be standard operating procedure. But I would like more information, yes."
However, the Ohio man doesn't think the Marines are deficient in their release of information, and a personnel officer from the Corps has been helping the family.
"I just think they are being terribly thorough (in their investigation) and hopefully, they'll be 100 percent honest," Etterling said.
Across America, families are attempting to cope with losses from the deadliest day of the nearly 2-year-old war. Six soldiers and Marines also were killed elsewhere in Iraq last Wednesday in the run-up to Sunday's elections.
"The only thing I know about an investigation is I signed a form saying I would be given a report of the (Judge Advocate General) investigation," said Rob Hopper of Arkansas.
The body of his 21-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Brian C. Hopper, is arriving in Memphis on a flight that gets in tonight. He'll be buried in the family cemetery.
"I think everybody is pretty well just taking care of what they've got to take care of now, and may try to contact the Marines later (for details of the crash)," Rob Hopper said.
The Marines and sailor were with the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing of the 1 Marine Expeditionary Force. The 1 MEF headquarters at Camp Pendleton in California referred calls yesterday about the crash investigation to the 1 MEF forward headquarters in Iraq.
Etterling was told the Marines are investigating the 1:20 a.m. crash near Rutbah, a corner of Iraq that touches the Syrian and Jordanian borders. The region has been a crossing point for foreign insurgents entering Iraq.
The cause wasn't immediately clear, although there was bad weather in the area. A second helicopter flying nearby reported no hostile fire.
Etterling said from the disposition of the bodies and helicopter parts, his understanding is that there was an explosion, and more than just an impact.
For the Marine Corps base at Kane'ohe Bay, the loss was a gut punch after two others. Eight 1/3 Marines were killed in a suicide car-bomb attack on Oct. 30, and 10 others have been killed in Iraq — most in fierce house-to-house fighting in Fallujah.
Navy Cmdr. Arthur M. Brown, the regimental chaplain for the 3rd Marine Regiment, said there was the sense of waiting to exhale.
"And then you get hit with something else, and that's made it difficult this time," he said.
A memorial service is expected to be held today by some of the approximately 1,000 Hawai'i Marines in Iraq, many of whom were dispersed to several locations from Camp Fallujah to provide security for Sunday's elections.
Ame Frey, whose husband, Capt. Shayne Frey, is a CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter pilot out of Kane'ohe Bay and is in Iraq, said the crash has starkly brought home the danger of duty there.
"Even before this crash happened, I knew it was the reality of it, but this brought it even closer," she said.
Her 5-year-old son is having a hard time with the crash and has had nightmares because his father flies a similar helicopter.
"I support the president and what my husband is doing, but it's just too much," Frey said of all the death in Iraq. "It makes me angry that so many people are going to be without a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a husband or a wife."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
