Photo provided by New York Army National Guard
Mendon resident Chief Warrant Officer Christian Koch was honored along with fellow soldiers, Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Prial and Chief Warrant Officer Steven Skoda at a memorial service last Friday (February 26) at the New York Army National Guard’s Aviation Support facility.
The three New York Army National Guard soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash when their UH-60 medical helicopter went down on a routine training mission in a farm field on West Bloomfield Road on January 20. The service was not open to the public; it was for the soldiers’ families as well as soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment, New York Army National Guard commanders, selected first responders and other guests.
PICTURED: National Guard names three service members killed after their helicopter crashed during a training mission in New York
Chief Warrant Officer Steven Skoda, 54; Chief Warrant Officer Christian Koch, 39; and Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Prial, 30, died on Wednesday
They were killed after their UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopter crashed into a field in upstate New York during a training exercise
There were no survivors in the crash
All three were experienced pilots with past deployments to Afghanistan and had won a litany of honors between them
Witnesses who called 911 reported hearing the sounds of an engine sputtering and said the aircraft was flying very low