Fort Campbell soldiers identified
The Army Times reports that the two Apache crew members killed in an accident this weekend as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ryan Connolly and Warrant Officer James Casadona. They were both assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division;
Connolly, 37, was an instructor pilot in the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. He joined the Army in 2001 and arrived at Fort Campbell in 2016.
Connolly’s awards and decorations include two Air Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Army Superior Unit Award, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Casadona, 28, was a pilot in the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. He joined the Army in 2012 and arrived at Fort Campbell in 2018.
Category: We Remember
May God bless you both and your families during this tragic time.
This has been a rough several days recently…here’s hoping that comes to a quick stop.
May they rest in peace and their families find some comfort in the days and months ahead.
HIGH FLIGHT
oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of, wheeled and soared I swung
High in the sunlight silence, Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
my eager craft through footless halls of air….
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No.412 Squadron, RCAF
The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade grew out of the unit that I was in as the “101st Aviation Battalion (Provisional)”, of the Early ’60s. Today, they have a HUEY “A” model Tail number 58-2091 mounted in front of the brigade. I crewed that Aircraft in 1963. In 1973 it was placed, as a monument, in front of 101st Division HQ, where it stayed until 2013.
It looks like Casadona was a prior service enlisted Marine.
A lot of skill and talent gone there. Is it just me or have peace(at least semi peace) time fatalities spiked in recent years? God bless these young warriors.