ARLINGTON, Va. - Four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters thundered over Arlington National Cemetery in an aerial salute for a group interment to 12 Soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq earlier this year as hundreds of Soldiers, family members and friends gathered below.
On the ground, emotion washed over Mrs. Shenneth Canegata once again, as she thought of how a Black Hawk had been where her husband, Lt. Col. David Canegata III, had spent his final moments.
"It is a part of the healing process to come here," she said, "I just thought that it was fitting that he be laid to rest here. It's truly an honor because he really believed in what he was doing."
Each Soldier had been identified with partial remains, allowing the families to hold separate burials following the crash. The group interment is of the co-mingled remains that could not be specific to any one individual after rigorous forensic testing. The purpose of the interment is to honor the sacrifice of those on board that fateful aircraft.
"I think it was the right thing to do," said Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard. The country owes it to the families to inter these Soldiers at Arlington, to let them know that the whole nation is behind them, he said.
The Soldiers, 10 from the Army National Guard and two from the active Army, were killed northeast of Baghdad on Jan. 20, when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. Their combat deaths were the highest number of National Guard fatalities in a single incident since 2001.
Of those killed, 10 were Army Guard Soldiers: Col. Paul M. Kelly of Virginia; Lt. Col. David C. Canegata III of the Virgin Islands; Capt. Michael V. Taylor of Arkansas; Capt. Sean E. Lyerly of Texas; Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard of Iowa; Command Sgt. Maj. Roger W. Haller of Maryland; 1st Sgt. William T. Warren of Arkansas; Sgt. 1st Class Floyd E. Lake Sr. of the Virgin Islands; Sgt. 1st Class John G. Brown of Arkansas; and Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker of Virginia. The active duty Army Soldiers were Col. Brian D. Allgood of Oklahoma and Cpl. Victor M. Langarica of Georgia.
A horse-drawn caisson led the casket to the burial site, an area where other group burials have taken place. The interment of the 12 Soldiers is the largest of four group burials since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism, and the first involving aviation casualties killed by direct enemy fire.
Honors included a casket team, a firing party and a bugler, who played "Taps." A single casket contained remains of the 12 Soldiers, as 12 honor guard members stood by bearing a separate flag, one for each of the fallen.
The honor guard members ceremoniously touched each flag to the casket before presenting them to the members of the 12 families.
Army leaders including Secretary of the Army Pete Geren, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard A. Cody, Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard, Command Sgt. Maj. David R. Hudson, National Guard Bureau's senior enlisted leader, and several state adjutants general stood silently near the families during the ceremony.
Vaughn held a reception for the 12 families at the Army National Guard Readiness Center following the ceremony.
"There is a healing piece that goes with this," said Vaughn. "[There's a] helpful healing between people who have the exact same issue."
The week's proceedings, including a private visitation, a chapel service and the burial, were the first time all of the families were in the same place together. It allowed them to exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses, along with photos and videos of their loved ones.
"It's grieving; it's a daily process," said Mrs. Canegata, "But because of who [my husband] was and what he accomplished, what he contributed not only to our family, to our country, to our nation, I think that it's really fitting, and it's an honor. To me, it's an honor as a spouse. If I had to do it again, I would."