Hundreds Escort Oregon Military Officer Killed in Iraq (VIDEO)

A military pilot from Beaverton who died in a helicopter crash is escorted home with extreme honor.

Chief Warrant Officer-2 Joshua Tillery, who was killed in late January in Iraq, was returned to Oregon Feb. 4th 2009. Photos by Q Madp IraqWarHeroes.org

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Today Oregon welcomed home Chief Warrant Officer-2 Joshua Tillery who was killed in late January in Iraq, and escorted his remains to Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home.

CWO-2 Joshua Tillery

Q Madp of IraqWarHeroes.org photographed the somber event and said the turnout was much better than expected for a middle of the week event.

Joshua Tillery, an Army helicopter pilot from Oregon, was one of four soldiers killed in a helicopter crash January 26th 2009 in northern Iraq. The 31-year old officer served under the command of the U.S. Army's well-known 10th Mountain Division.

Along with the other four soldiers, also pilots, Joshua Tillery of Beaverton, Oregon, is being awarded the Bronze Star posthumously for acts of valor in combat.

All four served with the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade.

They flew OH-58D Kiowa Warriors; armed reconnaissance helicopters also used by the Oregon National Guard in Salem.

The crash that claimed the life of Joshua Tillery and the others happened at 2:15 a.m. Baghdad time January 26th, about 20 miles south of Kirkuk, Iraq.

The Department of Defense says an investigation into the cause is ongoing, but military officials do not believe the downing was the result of an enemy attack.

According to the Watertown Daily Times, Chief Warrant Officer Tillery joined the Army in 1995 and became a helicopter pilot in 2003.

He deployed with the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade to Iraq for 11 months in 2005 and 2006.

Among his awards are two Army Commendation Medals, six Army Achievement Medals, the Air Medal, the Air Assault Badge and the Army Aviator Badge. Joshua Tillery is survived by his wife and three children.

The crash involves the largest loss of American life in Iraq since a helicopter crash in September that killed seven soldiers. That crash was not caused by enemy activity, but it claimed several lives.

I was in Balad, Iraq when it crashed and the sirens blazed, alerting rescue crews. A gentleman in the squadron I was embedded with was assigned to investigate the aircraft accident. Incidents of this nature are extremely tragic.

CW2 Joshua Tillery's funeral is on Friday, please visit: IraqWarHeroes.org for more information on this service and countless others.

Here is the video produced by Tim King, featuring Q Madp's photos of the Joshua Tillery escort:

Video

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com