ROCHESTER â Sadness and mourning, tears and honor.
Hundreds of people attended a Friday memorial honoring and remembering three soldiers killed last month when their helicopter crashed in Ontario County.
Christian Koch, Steven Skoda and Daniel Prial died Jan. 20 when their UH-60 Blackhawk crashed off West Bloomfield Road in Mendon. They had been on a routine training mission.
An afternoon service was conducted Friday inside the Army Aviation Facility in Rochester.
âIt is really just a ceremony to celebrate their lives and recognize what they have done,â Bravo Company, 642 Commander Maj. Mike Jamieson said.
Chief Warrant Officers Steven Skoda, Christian Koch and Daniel Prial are remembered during a memorial service on Friday in Rochester. The three National Guard soldiers were killed during a routine training mission in Mendon on Jan. 20. Courtesy of the Army National Guard
January 20th, three soldiers in the National Guard died in a helicopter crash just outside Mendon, New York. There is now a memorial set up to remember them.
January 20th was a historic day for the United States. It was the day that the 46th President of the United States was inaugurated. The country s first female Vice President was also sworn in on that day. It s probably what a majority of the country will remember. But also on that day, during a routine exercise, a helicopter flying over Mendon, New York (just outside Rochester) crashed and killed everyone on board.
This memorial to Christian Koch, Daniel Prial and Steven Skoda from C Company of the 1st Battalion, 171st General Support Aviation Battalion at the site of the crash of the New York Army National Guard helicopter was put up by Marvin Vahue, Mark Winship, Cory Gates and Jerry Fox.
Photo by Donna MacKenzie
Residents of Mendon are used to helicopters flying in the sky above them as they are often in the flight path of Mercy Flight choppers flying patients to Strong Memorial Hospital or military helicopters from the Army Aviation Support facility at the Rochester International Airport conducting training missions. However, things just didn’t seem right on the night of January 20.
He joined the U.S. Army right after high school and spent two years in Alaska. He later joined the National Guard because “he could sign up to be a pilot,” she said. He eventually settled in Rochester, but would keep in touch with his mom via phone.
‘These guys are being called heroes by so many people.and he was a dear, sweet hero,” Barbara Skoda said. He wanted to be called Steve
Skoda was what you’d call an “Army dad,” said Amber Davis, 36, of Ogden, a Staff Sergeant who served with both Skoda and Koch in Company F, 1st of the 169th General Support Aviation Battalion. She now works in administration with the New York National Guard.