Joint Base Lewis-McChord presented a plaque Wednesday to Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputies who were the first on scene of a fatal military helicopter crash near Summit Lake on Sept. 17.
Four members of the elite “Night Stalkers” 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, 4th Battalion — Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Cully, Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Kraus, Sergeant Donovan Scott and Sergeant Jadalyn Good — died when their MH-60 Blackhawk went down during a training mission.
The cause of the crash was still under investigation as of Sept. 22, according to previous reporting.
Thurston County Sheriff’s Office personnel provided a procession escort for the fallen soldiers on Sept. 22. They traveled to JBLM on Nov. 19 to be honored for their “heroic efforts” in responding to the crash, said Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders.
“It was great to have conversations with their unit and get a special behind the scenes tour of special operations on base where we learned about the rich history of the 160th,” Sanders said in a social media post on Wednesday. “May the fallen soldiers rest in peace.”
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Griffin Fire Department, the McLane Black Lake Fire Department, the King County Sheriff’s Office, the Lacey Fire Department, the Olympia Fire Department, the state Department of Natural Resources, the 2/75th Ranger Regiment, the 17th Special Tactics Squadron, the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron, the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), the I Corps and JBLM, were thanked by U.S. Army Special Operations Command in September for their help in responding to the crash site and retrieving the soldiers’ remains.
