Fallen pilot to be honored at CAFB

BY STEVE ROGERS news@dailytimesleader.com

The name of an Air Force major who was inspired to join the military by the events of 9/11 will be added to the Memorial Wall during ceremonies May 24 at Columbus Air Force Base.

Maj. Andrew “Andy” Becker trained at Columbus Air Force Base and was a member of the Class 09-10. An experienced special operations pilot, the 33-year-old and two other airmen were killed March 14 last year when their U-28 crashed during a training mission near the Texas-New Mexico border.

Becker was a 2002 graduate of Novi High School in Michigan and told his family after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 he was going to join the Air Force and protect the nation. He followed through on that vow.

Becker attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he earned a bachelor of science degree in meteorology. He was commissioned an Air Force officer through the ROTC program and completed his pilot training at CAFB in 2009.

From there, his skill really began to shine. Assigned to the 34th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Becker established himself as a skilled pilot, participating in six overseas deployments with the 34th SOS in support of counterterrorism operations. A rising star in the special operations aviation community, Becker was hand-selected in 2013 to help reactivate the 318th SOS at Cannon AF in New Mexico. The crash occurred about 15 miles from there.

While there, he participated in three additional overseas deployments and was slated to begin training the next generation of Air Force navigators at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

In almost seven years as a special operations pilot, he was deployed nine times to fly combat missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.He flew 459 combat missions, logging 2,260 hours and earned 22 service medals.

He was a captain at the time of his death and was promoted posthumously to major.

His name will be added to the CAFB Memorial Wall during a Memorial Day ceremony a 4 p.m. May 24 in the Richard “Gene” Smith Plaza at the Wing Headquarters.

Capt. Kenneth Dalga, 29, of Goldsboro, N.C., and First Lt. Frederick Dellecker, 26, of Daytona Beach, Fla., also died in the crash that took Becker's life.

Becker also has been honored with a memorial bench and tree at the Civic Center in Novi, Mich.