“The bodies of the soldiers who died in the helicopter accident return home.”

The body of a soldier who died in a training accident was returned to his home in North Carolina on Thursday. Sergeant First Class Joshua Gore passed away on March 29 when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a training exercise near Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Eight other soldiers also perished in the accident. Gore's body arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. At around 4:30 p.m., Patriot Guard Riders began to escort Gore's body to his final resting place in Morehead City. Gore graduated from West Carteret High School in 2015. He married his high school sweetheart in 2017 and his wife is expecting the couple's first child later this year. It is still unclear what caused the accident. Four helicopters were participating in the training exercise. One Black Hawk was refueling, and another was flying in front of the two that crashed, which were flying side by side. An Army press release identified the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division who died in the incident as Chief Warrant Officer 1 Jeffrey Barnes, 33; Corporal Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36; Sergeant Isaacjohn Gayo, 27; Sergeant First Class Joshua Gore, 25; Chief Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32; Sergeant First Class Taylor Mitchell, 30; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32; and Sergeant David Solinas Jr., 23. These soldiers came from different backgrounds. Barnes, an aeromedical evacuation pilot, enlisted in the Army from Florida in 2010 and later deployed to Afghanistan with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, according to service records provided by the Army. Bolanos, a UH-60 helicopter crew chief and mechanic born in the Philippines, enlisted in Texas in 2019 and served for nine months in Germany in 2020 as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. Esparza, a native of Texas, enlisted in Missouri in 2010 and had been a pilot instructor for the brigade since October 2021. Gayo, also born in the Philippines, joined the Army in 2019 from California. Gore joined the Army in 2015 and had been a flight paramedic for the brigade since May 2022. Healy had been serving as an aeromedical evacuation pilot for the brigade since 2022, after joining the Army in 2010. Mitchell enlisted in 2014 and was also serving as a flight paramedic for the brigade. Smith, from Florida, enlisted in the Army in 2012; he had been a pilot instructor for the brigade and had been deployed twice to Afghanistan, in addition to a nine-month rotation in Germany in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. Solinas, a flight paramedic, joined the service in 2018. The Wednesday accident was the deadliest aviation training incident since 2015, when 11 service members died when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Florida. Originally posted at Abogados de Accidentes