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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, August 16, 2009

Park now honors 19 fallen

     • Pioneer general to blaze trail out of Iraq


    By William Cole

     • Lacking leadership in Asia
    Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

    A park near Diamond Head was renamed last year, and a dedication ceremony was held on June 28, the fourth anniversary of the deaths.

    Photos by RICHARD AMBO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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    Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

    There are three memorial plaques in Operation Red Wings Medal of Honor Park. Lt. Michael Murphy was given a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions.

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    Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

    A rescue helicopter sent to help the SEALs was shot down, with 16 aboard killed.

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    At least 30 Navy SEALs were on hand June 28 for a dedication of the former Triangle Park near Diamond Head in honor of 19 U.S. service members who gave their lives in a mission in Afghanistan four years before.

    The park is now known as Operation Red Wings Medal of Honor Park.

    June 28 was the four-year anniversary of the 2005 Afghanistan losses, said Chad Buck, vice president of the SEAL-Naval Special Warfare Foundation-Hawai'i, which participated in the memorial project.

    The park memorializes the five Pearl Harbor SEALs and 14 other service members who died in Operation Red Wings.

    It was a mission originally planned by the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment out of Kane'ohe Bay (which was then in Afghanistan and coincidentally is back there now) to destroy the operations of an up-and-coming insurgent leader, Ahmad Shah, according to author Ed Darack, who wrote about the mission.

    Lt. Michael P. Murphy, from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One at Pearl Harbor, was leading a four-man team searching for Shah east of Asadabad in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, when they were spotted and attacked by a large force of Taliban fighters.

    Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who already was wounded, was killed when he moved onto open ground so he could radio for help. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

    Five of six Pearl Harbor SEALs deployed to Afghanistan were killed as a result of the initial Operation Red Wings and an ill-fated rescue when an MH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.

    Hawai'i SEALs also killed were: Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson; Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel R. Healy; Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric S. Patton; and Petty Officer 2nd Class James E. Suh.

    Altogether, 19 U.S. service members died in the Kunar Province operations — 11 SEALs and eight Army "Night Stalkers" with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

    Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, a Hawai'i SEAL who was blown over a ridge and knocked unconscious by a rocket-propelled grenade, managed to escape with the aid of some friendly Afghans.

    Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou mounted an effort to name a Pearl Harbor-area park for Murphy, the Medal of Honor recipient.

    That plan was fine-tuned to include all the fallen service members on the memorial at what was Triangle Park.

    The SEAL-Naval Special Warfare Foundation-Hawai'i, a nonprofit group, raised $100,000 for the families of fallen service members in the Naval Special Warfare community.

    Buck said the hope is to tie a future fundraiser into a movie production of Luttrell's book, "Lone Survivor."

    Universal Pictures bought the rights to "Lone Survivor," and Peter Berg, who was involved with "Friday Night Lights," "The Kingdom," "The Rundown" and "Hancock," was set to direct it. The movie Web site www.imdb.com said the movie is "in development."