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March 29, 2003
Iraq-theatre deaths of alumni noted at ERAU
By CINDI BROWNFIELD | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has lowered flags on campus to half-staff after receiving word that two students were killed in war-related helicopter crashes.
Both students were active-duty service members enrolled at Embry-Riddle extended campus sites at military bases.
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Tamara Archuleta, 23, was killed Sunday in a helicopter crash while on a rescue mission in Afghanistan, said university spokesman Jim Hampton.
Embry-Riddle officials learned Wednesday that U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer John D. ‘J.D.’ Smith, 32, died Feb. 24 in a helicopter crash on a training mission in Kuwait.
“We are involved with so many military people in Europe and the U.S., it really hits close to home,” Hampton said. “It´s part of the Embry-Riddle family.”
Archuleta and five others were attempting to rescue two injured Afghani children about 150 miles from Kandahar when they crashed. She was the co-pilot of the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter.
A native of New Mexico, Archuleta was enrolled in the master of aeronautical science degree program at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Ga.
Smith died with three others last month when a sandstorm engulfed their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter as they flew above the desert in Kuwait.
Smith, who was from Nevada, was part of the 158th Aviation Battalion, B Company, at Aviano Air Base, Italy. He was just three classes short of completing his master´s degree in aeronautical science.