Helicopter crash victims remembered 10 years on

Squadron historian Mark Service said the crew's death in a bird strike was "utterly tragic"

A memorial service has been held to honour four US Air Force personnel who died in a helicopter crash 10 years ago.

Capt Christopher Stover, Capt Sean Ruane, Technical Sgt Dale Mathews and Staff Sgt Afton Ponce died on a training mission at Cley Marshes in Norfolk on 7 January 2014.

The tragedy happened when geese struck the vehicle.

Squadron historian Mark Service said the crew survived search and rescue missions under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan "and to lose your life in a bird strike back home in the UK... was utterly tragic".

(l-r) Staff Sgt Afton Ponce, Capt Christopher Stover, Technical Sgt Dale Matthews and Capt Sean Ruane were all killed

Mr Service said: "I lost three friends in the crash - I didn't know Afton - but I knew Sean, Chris and Dale and I could never bring myself to come here until today.

"I felt the 10th anniversary was the appropriate time to come here and finally visit the site."

Military staff, including HM Coastguard officers who were there that night, attended the service on Sunday.

Steven Wilsher, the retired station officer for the Wells and Cley coastguard, said he was holding a training exercise that night and described how some of his team initially thought reports of the crash were part of that exercise.

"I deployed the team and we suddenly realised there was live ammunition around so we had to evacuate the main area... and deploy teams along the roads to block anyone trying to come in," he said.

At least three geese were believed to have hit the HH-60G Pave Hawk, causing it to crash

The victims were part of the USAF 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.

Barry Wall, chief of occupational safety at RAF Lakenheath, said: “We honour them because they were Liberty Airmen and they deserve to be remembered."

He co-founded the Jolly 2022 memorial, named after the crew's call sign, "to raise awareness of the crew and also to raise funds for the families".

More than $65,000 (£51,000) has been raised through events including a 22-mile march carrying 56lb (25kg) rucksacks, a 22-mile Peloton cycle ride and a 22,000 burpee challenge.

Barry Wall was involved in the investigation after the crash and said he knows "how important Liberty airman are to the wing"

The crew were flying an HH-60G Pave Hawk and flying 110ft (33m) above ground at a speed of about 110 knots (126mph) during a training exercise just before the crash.

An Accident Investigation Branch report said the geese were likely startled by the noise of the helicopter and at least three of them penetrated the windscreen.

Captains Stover and Ruane were pilots, and the other two were acting as special mission aviators.

The memorial service was held at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Cley Marches Visitor Centre.

Mr Service said: "During the ceremony I said their motto is, 'these things we do that others might live' - they lived by that motto every day."

USAF colleagues "across the globe" have taken part in Jolly 22 fundraising challenges, to remember the crew and support their families, said Mr Wall