Major Troy L. Gilbert comes home

On Nov. 27, 2006, Major Troy Golbert, the pilot of an F-16 Fighting Falcon, responded to calls for air support when a AH-6 Little Bird helicopter was shot down near Taji, Iraq and the crew was taken hostage by insurgents on the ground. From af.mil;

Gilbert, a friendly Texas Tech graduate dubbed “Trojan” by his fellow aviators, acted quickly and aggressively. To avoid causing civilian casualties by dropping the bombs he carried under his wings, he opted for low-altitude strafing passes using his 20-milimeter Gatling gun. Gilbert made his first pass, destroying one truck and dispersing the others which were almost upon the friendly forces 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. Keeping his eye on the enemy targets moving at high speed, he conducted a second pass from an even lower altitude.

He continued firing on the enemy forces during a dynamic and difficult flight profile, impacting the ground at high speed on the second pass. Reports say the crash killed him instantly. However, Al Qaeda insurgents took Gilbert’s body before U.S. forces were able to get to the scene….

By the time US forces got to the aircraft, only a small patch of tissue remained in the cockpit which was enough to identify Major Gilbert. That small patch of tissue was all that was returned to his family and it was enough to facilitate the “body found” classification for the major’s remains, so no one was looking for the rest of his body. Even though his badly decomposed remains starred in an insurgent propaganda video on September 11, 2007, no one was looking for him.

From Air Force Magazine;

[O]n Aug. 28, 2016, an Iraqi tribal leader approached US advisors and said he had information about Gilbert’s remains. Ravella said the tribal leader provided part of a jaw bone as proof.

On Sept. 7, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System at Dover confirmed it was Gilbert’s. The advisors returned to the tribal leader, and the rest of the remains, along with a flight suit, flight jacket, and parachute harness, were turned over.

[…]

A memorial service for Maj. Troy L. Gilbert will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 19, 2016, at 1 p.m.

Category: We Remember