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.
Mark Kokinda witnessed the crash from his house:
“I was able to look at it from a field to the south. It’s pretty devastating. This helicopter flew over my farmer house near Cheese Factory Road and you could tell it was in trouble.”
He also said the National Guard has been out there since the first responders arrived at the scene.
“People out in the field looking for certain parts, as far back as a couple miles back from the crash site. I just hope and pray everything works out for the families of these individuals,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of people in this area will remember it for a long time.”
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Sputnik International
Three National Guard soldiers were killed Wednesday evening when the helicopter they were in crashed along West Bloomfield Road near Cheese Factory Road in Mendon.
The aircraft was on a routine training mission, according to a statement from the state Division of Military & Naval Affairs.
The helicopter was a UH-60 medical evacuation helicopter based at the Army Aviation Support Facility at Rochester International Airport.
The aircraft was assigned to C Company of the 1st Battalion, 171st General Support Aviation Battalion.
There were three soldiers on board killed in the crash, according to the National Guard statement.
The crash happened at 6:32 p.m., the Monroe County Sheriffâs Office said in a tweet.