The International Security Assistance Force said in a brief statement a crash killed four of its members, three U.S. service members, three members of the Afghan national security forces and an Afghan civilian interpreter.
U.S. Army Sgt. Richard Essex, 23, was among 11 people killed August 16th, when the Black Hawk helicopter they were riding in crashed. Essex was the helicopter’s gunner.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. However, media reports have stated the Taliban has claimed credit for shooting down the helicopter in Kandahar province.
A member of the Army’s 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Essex is the twenty-first North Coast service member killed in the Global War on Terror since 2001. He previously served a yearlong tour in Iraq, deployed to Afghanistan last fall and was due home in November.
He was a 2008 graduate of Kelseyville High School. He played the bass guitar, was an artist and a published poet, with one book of poetry to his credit and another ready to be published soon.
Along U.S. 101, emergency personnel and private citizens gathered on overpasses to honor the soldier’s passing motorcade. Crowds waving American flags, holding thank-you signs and saluting lined the streets in Kelseyville.
“What a wonderful welcome home for Richard,” Noella Essex, Richard’s step-mother, wrote on her Facebook page. “People lined up for miles as his body was taken home — twenty or so police cars from all around, fire trucks, people with flags flying for their home town solider.”
Essex is survived by his mother and step-father, Marion and Brett Hopkins of Kelseyville; father and step-mother, Charles and Noella Essex of Crescent City, sisters, Stacey Hopkins and Jennifer Williamson; and brother, Michael Essex.
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