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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

At Arlington, somber rite for fallen warriors

Photo gallery: Fallen Heroes

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Soldiers in an Army honor guard hold 14 folded American flags during a group burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

LAWRENCE JACKSON | Associated Press

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The pain that came last year with the burial of 14 sons killed in Iraq — 10 of them from Schofield Barracks — was felt anew Friday as additional, recently recovered remains were interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The 10 Schofield soldiers and four helicopter crew members were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed on Aug. 22, 2007, during a nighttime mission in Multaka, Iraq.

It was the single greatest loss for the 25th Infantry Division since the Vietnam War.

The military honors Friday included a helicopter flyover, a single casket with the commingled remains on a horse-drawn caisson, taps, a rifle salute and presentation of a folded American flag to each family.

"It was probably just every bit as hard as it was 14 months ago," said Larry Hook, whose son, Spc. Michael A. Hook, 25, was buried in the soldier's hometown of Altoona, Pa.

The Army did not identify which soldiers the remains were from. Larry Hook said a single marker, larger than the others in Section 60 at Arlington, will bear all 14 names.

The 10 Schofield soldiers were scouts with the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, while the helicopter crew was out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Larry Hook, who lives in Little Egg Harbor, N.J., said Michael never got to see his son, Mason, who was born a little more than a month after he was killed.

At the ceremony, the toddler was bundled against the cold and sat on the lap of his mother, Suzie Fetterman, as she clutched the folded flag.

It's not unheard of for the military to recover additional remains from war and seek to return them to family.

In January, Leilehua High School graduate and Schofield Barracks soldier Sgt. Alexander Gagalac was reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific after the family was notified that additional remains had been found.

Gagalac, 28, had been killed Sept. 9, 2007, in Iraq.

Kim Bilbrey, whose son, Staff Sgt. Jason Paton, 25, also was killed in the helicopter crash, said, "You can imagine, it (Friday's ceremony) brought up a lot of the emotion again.

"It wasn't as personal as your own child's (burial), one-on-one," said the California woman. "However, it was just heartfelt knowing that they (other families) were going through the same thing that I was going through."

All the families met with President Bush on Thursday in the Oval Office.

The Altoona (Pa.) Mirror newspaper reported that Bush broke down when he saw 1-year-old Mason Hook.

"He was a fabulous man. He was very emotional. He cried. He was just very down to earth," Bilbrey said of the meeting.

An Army investigation found that an "unknown foreign object" in the helicopter's tail rotor housing had traveled aft, became lodged, and gouged through the tail rotor drive shaft, causing the chopper to plummet to the ground from a height of 150 feet.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.