"Their friends aren't afraid of talking about them. They're afraid of them not being remembered." Lt. Col. Alan Sanders, 3rd MAW liaison officer to the First Marine Expeditionary Force All of us will remember the moment we learned that four of our beloved HMM-364 Purple Foxes had perished in a tragic helicopter crash. Our sadness was compounded by the sacrifice of an additional Marine that struggled through strong river currents in an effort to save them. The pain felt will never be erased, however many of us forget the men and women that were a part of the rescue efforts. These brave soliders worked tirelessly to bring our men home. Here are some excerpts from news articials written at the time. "Some of you didn't know their names until two days ago," Lt. Col. Alan Sanders, 3rd MAW liaison officer to the First Marine Expeditionary Force, told those at the service, which included many who had participated in the recovery effort." "First on the scene were Marines from B Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, including (Sgt. Kirk) Straseskie, who entered the water in an attempt to rescue the crew." "On May 20, Air Force parajumpers arrived, who did the initial survey using scuba gear. Later came Army divers, who mapped the high points of the waterway. They were joined by Seabee divers from Underwater Construction Team 2, Task Force Charlie, and I MEG, who drove up from Ali Al Saleem Air Base, Kuwait, to render assistance." "For us, the recovery has been a sad process because we lost four of our squadron mates," said Maj. Phil Grathwol, executive officer, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "The Seabees, Air Force jumpers and Army divers are true professionals, and we couldn't have gotten them out without them." Read complete story We wish we could personally thank each person that participated in the rescue effort and tell them how much they mean to us. You do. One man, E01 Timothy J. Fabela reached out to share his memory of the events.

Part of the rescue operation, EO1(SCW) Timothy J. Fabela remembers. published 2004
To view the orginial memorial movie. published 2003	Memorial movie in honor of the anniversary of May 19th, 2003. published 2004
You will need a Flash Player to view the movie.

	Timothy J. Fabela "I was one of the Seabee's that assisted in the rescue attempts of the helo crash. I feel so bad for the families of the service members. It was a day that I will never forget, and the memories of the Marines that were nice enough to take us for a ride on their helicopter for construction on their helo pad. My thought and prayers are with the Marines and their families. God bless our fallen heros. Attached is a picture of those of us who worked on your runway in Al Hillah, Iraq, and some of the same men who assisted in everyway we could in what resulted in a very tragic ending." EO1(SCW) Timothy J. Fabela 4/26/04

back row- LTjg Eberhart, CM2 Alcaraz, EO2 Heimerich, EO1 Hees, EO3 Dunlavy, EO2 Green

front row- EO1 Pope, EO1(SCW) Fabela, EOCS(SCW) Carder, EO2(SCW) Kahler, EO2 Lamson

	" We belonged to a Reserve Seabee Battalion out Kansas City Missouri. We were dispatched as an 126 person air detachment. One thing to keep in mind, there were so many people out of the air detachment that helped with the crash, it was not limited by any means to the people in this picture. We all contributed in one fashion or another. The men above are the individuals that directly contributed to the construction of the helo pad, but also contributed to the crash. We as a unit did contribute to the refurbishing of more than 15 buildings on camp, the pool, and leveling a lot of land for coalition forces' equipment and facilities. We additionally worked at other camps to increase moral for other Marine and Coalition Forces. We rebuilt several schools to make them available for local Iraqi children to continue school. Several of us worked at the Al Hillah Mass Graves, were we acted as security and excavators. The jobs we served were almost limitless, and were more for the comfort of others well before ourselves." EO1(SCW) Timothy J. Fabela 4/26/04

Part of the rescue operation, EO1(SCW) Timothy J. Fabela remembers. published 2004
To view the orginial memorial movie. published 2003	Memorial movie in honor of the anniversary of May 19th, 2003. published 2004
You will need a Flash Player to view the movie.

Sgt. Colin Wyers I Marine Expeditionary Force FIVE REMEMBERED Click to enlarge CAMP BABYLON, Iraq - A memorial service was held May 24 at Camp Babylon for five Marines who died after a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing crashed shortly after takeoff May 19 in the Shat Al Hillah Canal. Dead are: Capt. Andrew D. Lamont, 32, San Diego; 1st Lt. Timothy L. Ryan, 30, St. Louis; Staff Sgt. Aaron D. White, 27, Oklahoma City; Sgt. Kirk Allen Straseskie, 23, of Beaver Dam, Wis.; Lance Cpl. Jason W. Moore, 21, San Diego. "Some of you didn't know their names until two days ago," Lt. Col. Alan Sanders, 3rd MAW liaison officer to the First Marine Expeditionary Force, told those at the service, which included many who had participated in the recovery effort. "Their friends aren't afraid of talking about them. They're afraid of them not being remembered." The helicopter and crew of four went down shortly before 4 p.m. while conducting a re-supply mission in support of civil military operations. Recovery efforts began immediately after the crash, both to recover the deceased and to start an investigation into the cause of the incident. "For us, the recovery has been a sad process because we lost four of our squadron mates," said Maj. Phil Grathwol, executive officer, Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 364, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "The Seabees, Air Force jumpers and Army divers are true professionals, and we couldn't have gotten them out without them." First on the scene were Marines from B Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, including Straseskie, who entered the water in an attempt to rescue the crew. "I can only assume that he saw or heard (the helicopter) come down," said 2nd Lt. David Cedarleaf platoon commander, 3rd Platoon, B Co., 1st Bn, 4th Mar. "He was taking care of his Marines on that side (of the canal) with chow." Straseskie began struggling in the water, unable to swim against the strong current. "It was pretty damn strong," Click to enlarge said 1st Lt. Dallas Shaw, executive officer, B Co., 1st Bn, 4th Mar., "I've been in 14 years, did Force Recon, combatant diving, and this was the strongest current I've ever been in." Cedarleaf and Shaw had entered the water from the eastern bank, while Straseskie entered from the western bank. "He was approaching the bird when we saw him," said Cedarleaf. "I thought he was having trouble, so I diverted off and assisted him." Iraqis from the nearby town of Jumjumah saw the crash and the rescue attempt, and gathered to deliver assistance. Standing on the bank of the canal, still dripping wet from his efforts, Mazen Mohammed al Shibli remembered jumping into the water after seeing somebody struggling. "All people here tried to leave the water, (because they) thought there was electricity in the water," said al Shibli. "When they saw me jump in the water, they jumped after me." Unable to reach the crew of the sunken helicopter, their attentions soon turned to Straseskie. Click to enlarge "People came here from the village to help save them," said al Shibli. "We brought him over onto the bank." Senior Chief Petty Officer Richard Moriarity, Senior Medical Department Representative, 9th Communications Battalion, I MEF, arrived on the scene to see al Shibli and Cedarleaf giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the Marine. Straseski was taken to Shock Trauma Platoon 7 at Camp Babylon, where he was pronounced dead. Marines from the First Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, and Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 15, Task Force Charlie, I MEF Engineering Group, arrived to assist in the recovery efforts. There was a lot of tension," said Cpl. Veronica Leyva, I MHG administration chief, from Tucson, Ariz. "There were pretty late nights where we were out until 10 or 11." Other Iraqis continued to render assistance to the Marines at the scene, using their boats to take lines out to the wreckage to secure it until it could be removed. "Some of them were working just as hard as we were," said Chief Petty Officer Carl Carder, from Gallatin, Miss., commander of A Company, NMCB-15. "They were just a part of the team. They knew we had a tragedy, and they were giving us a hand." The wreck was anchored to vehicles on shore, using ropes and cables taken out to the craft by villagers from nearby Jumjumah, who provided boats to aid in the rescue effort. On May 20, Air Force parajumpers arrived, who did the initial survey using scuba gear. Later came Army divers, who mapped the high points of the waterway. They were joined by Seabee divers from Underwater Construction Team 2, Task Force Charlie, and I MEG, who drove up from Ali Al Saleem Air Base, Kuwait, to render assistance. "We left at (2 a.m.), and got here at (2 p.m.)," said Senior Chief John Green, UCT-2 master diver, from Alliance, Ohio. "You have to watch from being overzealous. The divers were tired, so at midnight I said we'd come back in the morning." Using scuba equipment, Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Vollmer, an advanced underwater construction technician with UCT-2, made his first dive on the night of May 20. He came back with a gear bag, a 9mm pistol and an M-16A2 service rifle. "I talked to pilots, and they said (the crew was) right forward of (where the gear bag was)," said Vollmer. "I was anxious to get back down there." "The Seabee divers had brought surface air equipment with them, which enabled them to stay under for longer periods of time than possible with scuba. The next morning, May 21, Vollmer went in using the surface air equipment, and recovered the crewmembers. "It's a tragedy, but today was rewarding, because we were able to send our comrade Marines home," said Carder. circa May,2004 view past news stories