Ronald Slavenas, front, and his wife Chris, father and stepmother of National Guard First Lt. Brian Slavenas, talk about their son in Genoa, Ill., on Nov. 3, 2003. The 30-year-old pilot of the Chinook helicopter that was shot down Nov. 2 in Iraq was one of 15 killed. Twenty others were wounded.
A sign in front of DuMont Collectibles in Genoa, Ill., seen Nov. 3, 2003, salutes First Lt. Brian Slavenas, 30, of Genoa, the pilot of a Chinook helicopter that was shot down Nov. 2 in Iraq. Slavenas was an Illinois National Guardsman with F Company, 106 Aviation Batallion, based at the Greater Peoria Airport.
Dawn Defelice looks on at a press conference in Darlington, Pa., Nov. 4, 2003. Her brother, Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, was one of 15 soldiers killed in Iraq when a helicopter he was in was shot down Nov. 2. He was on his way home for their mother's funeral.
Dawn DeFelice holds a picture of her brother, Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, who died in the helicopter shooting in Iraq Sunday, as she stands Nov. 3, 2003, in front of her Darlington, Pa., home. Their parents, Donald R. and Mary Ellen Bucklew, are pictured at right.
Staff Sgt. John Fouts, right, sits Nov. 3, 2003, at the "Casualty Affairs" desk of the Fort Carson Emergency Family Assistance Center at Fort Carson, Colo. It was set up to help the families of soldiers killed Nov. 2 in an attack on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter near Fallujah, Iraq. The center will be a one-stop center for the families to get all the support the base has to offer.
The family of 2nd Lt. Benjamin J. Colgan gather at the family home Nov. 3, 2003, in Kent, Wash. Colgan, 30, was killed in Iraq while responding to a rocket-propelled-grenade attack, the Defense Department said Nov. 3. His father, Joe, sits on the couch while behind him, from left, are Colgan's sister Emily, 24; mother, Pat; niece, Lauren, 10; sister, Lizzy, 27; and niece, Hailey, 8.
Courtney Rinaldi Barrett poses with a wedding photograph, taken last November, near her parents home in Port Deposit, Md., Nov. 3, 2003. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Patrick Barrett, suffered minor injuries following the missile attack Nov. 2 on two U.S. helicopters in Iraq.
Ruth Lau, mother of slain U.S. Army soldier Karina Lau, stands in her home Nov. 3, 2003, in Livingston, Calif. Karina Lau, 22, boarded a Chinook transport helicopter headed toward the Baghdad Airport, where she was scheduled to board an airplane to the United States for a two-week surprise visit with her family in California.
A table full of pictures of Pfc. Karina Lua are displayed in the living room of her mother's house in Livingston, Calif., Nov. 3, 2003. Lau and 14 other soldiers died when the chopper they were on was shot down by a missile fired from the ground near Fallujah, Iraq.
Col. Al Schneider, left, commander of 212th Field Artillery Brigade, Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica, commander of III Corps Artillery, and Maj. Gen. Michael D. Maples, right, commanding general of Fort Sill, Okla., gather during a news conference Nov. 3, 2003. The news conference was about six Fort Sill soliders who were killed and six who were injured when a CH-47 Chinook Helicoptor went down in Iraq Nov. 2.
U. S. Congressmen Ed Case (D-Hawaii), left, and Brad Miller (D-North Carolina) pay a visit to Specialist Scott Timm at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, southern Germany, Nov. 4, 2003. Scott was among the 21 survivors of the Nov. 2 attack on a U.S. helicopter in Iraq. They were taken for medical treatment to Landstuhl.