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Soldiers in Iraq helicopter crash identified

The names of the soldiers killed in last week’s crash of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in southern Iraq have been released by the Defense Department.

All of the soldiers were assigned to the Texas Army National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, Task Force 34. The unit’s headquarters is in Grand Prairie, Texas.

The 36th CAB has about 2,500 National Guard soldiers from 44 states, according to the National Guard Bureau Web site. Those killed in the crash were identified as:

• Chief Warrant Officer Corry A. Edwards, 38, of Kennedale, Texas.

• Sgt. Daniel M. Eshbaugh, 43, of Norman, Okla.

• Sgt. Anthony L. Mason, 37, of Springtown, Texas.

• 1st Sgt. Julio C. Ordonez, 54, of San Antonio.

• Chief Warrant Officer Brady J. Rudolf, 37, of Oklahoma City.

• Cpl. Michael E. Thompson, 23, of Harrah, Okla.

• 1st Lt. Robert Vallejo II, 28, of Richland Hills, Texas.

U.S. officials said a mechanical problem appeared to be the reason for the Sept. 18 helicopter crash, which occurred near Talil Air Base about 60 miles west of Basra.

The CH-47 Chinook was flying with three other helicopters from Kuwait when it went down shortly after midnight, the Army said.

Maj. John Hall, a military spokesman in Baghdad, said hostile fire had been ruled out in the crash and the three other helicopters suffered no damage.

The Chinook can carry more than 30 people, but the Army said the seven killed were the only ones onboard the helicopter that crashed.

The aircraft was en route to LSA Anaconda in Balad north of Baghdad and went down in an area under British military control. A British quick-reaction force and road convoy were dispatched to help American officials at the site, officials said.

It was the Army’s deadliest helicopter accident since Aug. 22, 2007, when a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, killing all 14 soldiers aboard, but it was only the third Chinook lost in Iraq.

Five soldiers were killed when their Chinook crashed Aug. 14, 2007 during a routine post-maintenance check flight west of Baghdad near Al Taqqadum air base.

On Nov. 2, 2003, a Chinook carrying soldiers to a rest-and-recuperation break took off from Al Asad air base in western Iraq and was brought down by enemy fire near Fallujah. Sixteen soldiers died in the attack and more than two dozen others were wounded.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.