CG marks 1st anniversary of fatal crash - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

CG marks 1st anniversary of fatal crash

The Coast Guard will dedicate a memorial Friday to the four crew members who died in an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crash a year ago near Honolulu, while officials continue to review the cause of the accident.

The investigation has been completed, but officials still are looking over the report, said Lt. j.g. Jake Wrieden, a spokesman for Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii.

Lt. Cmdr. Chris O’Neil, a spokesman at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, said he could not say when the report would be complete. “The focus is on quality, and that takes time,” he said.

Search crews recovered the helo’s fuselage and data and voice recorder at the time of the accident.

The Coast Guard plans to unveil a memorial at 9:30 a.m. at its Barbers Point Air Station honoring the crew members who crashed Sept. 4, 2008, while conducting search-and-rescue drills south of Honolulu International Airport. The service members killed that night were Cmdr. Thomas Nelson, Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Wischmeier, Aviation Survival Technician 1st Class David Skimin, and Aviation Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Joshua Nichols.

Nelson, the pilot, was the executive officer at Barbers Point.

Cmdr. Carl Riedlin, executive officer of Barbers Point, went to flight school with Nelson and had worked with Wischmeier and Skimin in Alaska. Riedlin came to Barbers Point seven weeks before the accident as the station’s engineering officer.

“They were full of life, a very adventurous group,” he said. “Being around those guys and working with those guys was a privilege.”

The memorial also honors another lost crew from Barbers Point — the three crew members who died when an HH-52 helicopter crashed Jan. 7, 1982, while en route to a search and rescue mission north of Molokai. On that night, Lt. Cmdr. Horton Johnson, Lt. Colleen Cain and Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class David Thompson died. The new memorial replaces a smaller plaque that honored the 1982 crew.

The new memorial consists of a semi-circular, lava rock wall with a bronzed helmet and flight boots in the center. Two plaques on either side of the statue tell the stories of each crew. From the memorial, visitors will be able to see the ocean, the station’s flag and the flightlines — the focal point of the station, Riedlin said.

“For all of us, it’s a way for us to pay tribute,” Riedlin said. “It gives us a place to reflect.”

Vice Adm. David Pekoske, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, will preside over the ceremony. Other guests will include Vice Adm. Jody Breckenridge, Commander of Coast Guard Pacific Area, and Rear Adm. Manson Brown, the commander of the 14th Coast Guard District headquartered in Honolulu.

The families of both crews have been invited to the ceremony along with representatives from the other military branches, government, industry partners and community members.