A devastating loss.

scoutpilot

scoutpilot

10-Year Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2010
Messages
4,479
Before his fourth tour of military duty, James Groves III toured Arlington National Cemetery while in Washington, D.C., last fall to run the Marine Corps Marathon.

The U.S. Army chief warrant officer told his wife, Katie, that was where he wanted to be buried if he died in military service.

The 37-year-old Kettering Fairmont High School graduate was killed Saturday when the helicopter he was piloting crashed near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Mechanical failure is suspected. The other soldier who was aboard survived.

Groves, who enlisted following commencement in June 1994, was nearing the end of his second tour in Afghanistan, following two in Iraq.

“He expected this to be the shortest by far. He left in December and was going to be home by September,” said his mother, Leslie Groves, of Kettering, who “knew immediately what had happened” when a chaplain and a uniformed Army officer came to the door of the family home on Olson Drive last weekend.

“He and Katie were going to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. James was very close to his 19th anniversary in the military. He was going to retire after 20 years,” Leslie Groves said.

Katie Groves was at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Monday afternoon along with the couple’s sons, James IV, 12, and Shane, 9, when her husband’s body was transported from overseas.
Click to expand...

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/kettering-pilot-was-near-end-of-final-tour/nWwm9/?nmredir=true

I haven't the words. Thank you all for your kindness.
 
Scout,

I'm a military aviator; have been for 29 years...

We wear different uniforms, fly different aircraft, and yet...I've flown the missing man formation over too many friends and classmates...hoisted a glass to a friend I used to drink with...and cried the tears of pain.

Tonight I hoist a glass of a fine single malt beverage...in honor of "our comrade in arms" your mentor and friend...an American Warrior and Patriot...

And there are tears in my eyes...it hurts, even if I don't know the gent...because I know HIM and his "kind."

As we say at USAFA and in the USAF...

"A Toast!"

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Sadly, it was his shortest deployment.

RIP warrior...

Sorry for your loss, Scout.
 
Thanks for posting that article, Scout. It put a 'face' with this tragedy.
Heartbreaking.
So sorry for the loss of your friend.
 
Scout, thank you for sharing information about your friend and mentor, James Groves III. I offer my sincere sympathy to you and to his family.

I hope the cause of his death can be understood so that similar tragedies can be avoided in the future.
 
So sorry for your loss Scout. Be careful out there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top