GANTAR, Pakistan — The Chinook helicopter relief flight reached far into the mountains of Kashmir, hustling toward an ever-more dramatic view of the looming Himalayas with every mile.

But it was the sight of the people in this remote village that made a lasting impression on the Hawai'i-based crew.

As about 50 men, women and children lined up at the aft deck of the big helicopter for an emergency flight from Gantar last week, an old man with a long beard dyed orange scooped up handfuls of rice and sugar that had spilled on the helicopter's floor during an earlier aid drop-off. He tucked the supplies into his knee-length brown shirt.

The man's effort "shows you how badly they need the food — that they don't want to waste any of it," said Sgt. Heath B. Robinson, 27, a power-train mechanic from Rogersville, Tenn., with the Company B, 214th Aviation "Hillclimbers."

Then someone carried a crippled man on his back into the aircraft, putting him down on a red nylon bench that lined both sides of the chopper.

The dirty face of a young boy with a cleft palate flashed with fear as the engine and twin rotors of the Chinook roared. Yellow earplugs handed out by the crew stuck out of his ears.

Four women in head-to-toe burqas — one in orange, one in black, one in green and one in gray — came aboard.

The passengers were unfamiliar with riding in a helicopter. Some cried. Others sat in clumps on the rice- and sugar-covered floor, held each other and put their hands over their ears. They did not speak with crew members as language barriers and noise — rotors don't shut down during pickups or drop-offs — stifled such conversation.

Most did not appear to be coping with injuries from the massive Oct. 8 earthquake that literally moved mountains, killing an estimated 80,000 people and leaving more than 3 million homeless. This group was being taken to the city of Mansehra to visit loved ones who had been injured and were evacuated earlier to a field hospital there.

'THANKS AND PRAISE'

Upon arriving in the city, departing passengers waved, and in heartfelt handshakes expressed thanks. The Hawai'i soldiers, in turn, said they were moved by the gratitude.

"Just seeing their faces and the relief they got makes you feel good inside that you're doing something for these people. They've lost everything," Robinson said. Sixty soldiers with his unit will be in Pakistan for several more weeks or months.

During the flight from Gantar, Robinson said, he noticed a man sitting on the floor of the Chinook, whispering to and hugging his wife, who was in a black burqa that hid her face.

"I was just thinking he was saying, 'Everything is going to be OK. We're going to get some help,' " Robinson said.

Capt. Faisal Naveed Ashraf, 27, a fixed-wing aircraft instructor with the Pakistani army who flew with the pair of Hawai'i Chinooks as a liaison pilot, said about 80 percent of the homes in Gantar were destroyed. Moreover, the sight of the village's stone-and-wood homes flattened beneath tin roofs — in greater numbers in this region than in some other places struck by the 7.6-magnitude quake — told of the loss of what little this group had.

Ashraf said the villagers are Pathans and have tribal connections to Afghanistan.

Spc. Steven LaNigra, 21, a crew chief with the Hillclimbers, said the relief missions run by the Hawai'i unit's four Chinooks over the past week reminded him of the year the Hillclimbers recently spent in Afghanistan.

"We did a lot of that stuff in Afghanistan, too," said LaNigra, who is from Saco, Maine.

On Christmas Eve, the unit brought in eight helicopter loads of food, blankets, school supplies and medicine to a small town it had adopted.

But while Afghanistan is a combat zone, and U.S. forces have to keep up their guard constantly, "here, it's been humanitarian aid," LaNigra said. "It's only been thanks and praise."

That extends to the Pakistani military, which has been on the ground at many of the landing zones to provide security and help offload relief supplies.

HANDSHAKES MEAN A LOT

At an earlier stop the same day in Bagh, 60 miles northeast of Islamabad near the divide that separates Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, more than a dozen Pakistani soldiers helped unload 10,000 pounds of sugar and rice and 15 big red bags with rations to feed a family of five for a week.

"Afterwards, one (Pakistani soldier) started shaking my hand, and then all of them starting shaking my hand," LaNigra said. "We had to go, but I'll wait for that."

Ashraf said Pakistani soldiers have been impressed with the Americans, and the feeling is mutual.

"It's a very good experience and I like them (the Americans) because they are working hard," Ashraf said. "They don't have rank separation — everybody is working hard as one unit."

Ashraf said he has seen U.S. officers, traveling in the Chinooks to see how cities have been affected, pitch in to help offload supplies.

"It's not their job, but they are working hard," he said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.