A New Hampshire man was among the five Army aviation special operations forces killed when their MH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crashed in the Eastern Mediterranean, The Pentagon announced Monday.
The military’s European Command said the helicopter went down over the weekend during an air refueling mission as part of military training.
The five service members who died were Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen R. Dwyer, 38, of Clarksville, Tennessee; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane M. Barnes, 34, of Sacramento, California; Staff Sgt. Tanner W. Grone, 26, of Gorham, New Hampshire; Sgt. Andrew P. Southard, 27, of Apache Junction, Arizona; and Sgt. Cade M. Wolfe, 24, of Mankato, Minnesota.
"Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of the fallen," the Department of Defense said in a statement. "The U.S. Army's Combat Readiness Center is conducting an investigation into the incident."
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The commander of the Army Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, said the fallen soldiers “hail from rare patriotic families with deep military service ties that span multiple generations and formations.”
“This is devastating news that reverberates across the entire Special Operations community," Braga said on Monday in a statement. "Every loss is tough, but in this case, service to the Nation is truly a family business and it’s hard to express the amount of sorrow that we all feel right now."
The fallen soldiers were highly decorated, with multiple combat deployments in addition to responding to deployments with no notice, sent overseas to respond quickly to various national security needs.
Grone enlisted in the Army in 2017 as a UH-60 repairer. He served as a flight instructor and and MH-60M crew chief for the 160th. He deployed to Afghanistan and multiple times to Iraq, and he was awarded the Air Medal with Combat device, the Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal with combat device among many other awards.
Grone's parents, Steve and Erica Grone, said of their son in a Facebook post that they were "beyond proud of what you became and believed in. Thank you for all these amazing years. Please watch over us. Love you and can’t express how much you will be missed.”
"He was excelling, moving up in rank, getting more responsibility," Gorham Town Manager Peter Gagnon, who was one of Grone's teachers in high school, told NBC10 Boston. "When he chose the military, I can tell you it was a light switch, and he found his place and he found a new home and a purpose and he embraced it a hundred percent."
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu also issued a statement Monday after learning of Grone's death.
“Valerie and I extend our condolences to the family of Staff Sgt. Tanner Grone, who gave his life while serving his country,” Sununu said. “Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of Staff Sgt. Grone and his four fellow soldiers who perished. Their bravery and devotion to this nation, and the protection of our freedoms, shall never be forgotten.”
"What he enjoyed was doing real things with true comrades," said Gagnon. "And there's a risk that comes with that, and I think he embraced that risk."
The U.S. has built up its force presence in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. There are two carrier strike groups operating in the region, U.S. Air Force squadrons have received additional crews and warplanes, and U.S. special operations forces have been added to help Israel in efforts to rescue hostages taken into Gaza.
Army aviation special operations forces are assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The group has almost 3,000 soldiers and more than 200 aircraft, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
