Not forgotten
MCAS Yuma honors fallen flight crew on 10th anniversary
Family members, friends, fellow Marines and sailors past and present attended a memorial ceremony Wednesday morning in remembrance of the flight crew of an HH-1N Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma that crashed 10 years ago.
The ceremony was held about a quarter-mile from the helicopter crash site, at the entrance to a box canyon near Ferguson Lake. A 2-by-3-foot piece of stone was placed there in June of 2008 to mark the site, which is about 20
miles north of Yuma.
On the stone, is a full-color drawing of a SAR helicopter, the callsigns of each of the crew members, the date of the crash and the words, “Rescue One, four outbound souls.” The crash happened on Aug. 16, 2007, during a routine training mission.
Killed in the crash were pilots Maj. Cesar Y. Freitas, 35, and Capt. Bradley E. Walters, 33, Sgt. Charles L. Osgood, 27, who served as the crew chief, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Brendon W. Sandburg, a 25-yearold Navy hospital corpsman. The only survivor of the crash was Lance Cpl. Brian D. Stahlhut.
Maj. Adam Trout, the commanding officer of the Search and Rescue squadron, was the first to speak, expressing his condolences to the family members in attendance.
“I would like to say I’m deeply sorry for your loss. Please know though that your loved ones will never be forgotten and we remember them always, and carry them in our hearts,” Trout said. “I assure you that will continue for as long as we exist.”
Trout added he regretted not knowing any of the men who had lost their lives that day, but he knew from everything he had been told about them by others who did, that they were all really great people.
“Even though I did not know them, I know the kind of men they were,” Trout said. “The reason I know this is because they are the same kind of men I serve with today.”
He went on to say while he was deeply saddened for the family, he thought the crash was a powerful reminder of the inherent dangers associated with military aviation, and a good example of why SAR exists, and the things they are unfortunately called upon to do from time to time.
Four HH-1N Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma flew over the crash site in a special formation to start the ceremony, with one landing nearby afterwards, and the other three on top of nearby peaks.
“It is called a Missing Man formation, and it is to symbolize that while they may be gone, they will always hold a place in our hearts,” Trout said during his remarks. “They will also always hold a place in the formation we flew.”
Lt. Col James Tanis, the commanding officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, also shared a few words saying that even after 10 years there was no way to describe the sorrow everyone still feels.
“To the family and friends that carry a piece of our fallen friends, please know that we all mourn of this tragic day,” Tanis said. “But we also celebrate their legacy and commitment to the military, the community and country.”
Tanis closed his remarks by citing a quote from former president Theodore Roosevelt in which he once said blessed is a man who does hard work worth doing.
“I assure you today that the work they were doing was worth doing,” Tanis said. “Their legacy lives on and will never be forgotten.”
Each of the helicopters that flew over the ceremony also carried an American flag, one representing each of the families, and would given to them later.
“A small token and symbol to not only mark the 10th anniversary, but also to show the world that these four men were American heroes,” Tanis said.
Freitas’ widow, Jennifer, was among those in attendance, returning to Yuma from Colorado where she now resides, saying there was no other place she would rather have been on this day.
“It is always going to be bittersweet,” she said. “Undeniably the worst moment of my life was receiving the phone call saying they were missing.”
Freitas, who has three children with her husband — one of whom was born after his death — said she will always remember her husband as larger than life and never wanting to waste a moment of it.
She said she was in Colorado for a family reunion, and the night before she was scheduled to return to Yuma someone from the air station called her parents house around midnight trying to contact her. When she called back, the person who answered asked her to hold for the commanding officer.
“At that point I knew something was wrong. They were missing and their aircraft had not been found yet,” Freitas said. “I just remember collapsing to the ground. Everything just changed and I didn’t know what was going to happen. I could not even fathom what life was going to be like.”
The following day, she received word that her husband had died, just before boarding her plane at the Denver airport for her flight back to Yuma.
“When I walked up to the gate and saw a Marine standing there with our family pastor, I knew exactly what it meant. That will always be the single worst moment of my life,” Freitas said. “As a military spouse you know the words but hearing them is the most surreal experience ever.”
While the loss of her husband was heartbreaking, Freitas said she has also been blessed by becoming a stronger person and for raising three amazing children.
Communication with the helicopter was lost at about 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 16. The wreckage was found about midnight by another SAR team.