Army 1st Lt. Adam G. Mooney

Died January 25, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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28, of Cambridge, Md.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation, Fort Drum, N.Y.; attached to 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum; killed Jan. 25 when his helicopter went down in the Tigris River during a search for a missing soldier in Mosul, Iraq. Mooney was listed as duty status whereabouts unknown after the crash. His remains were recovered Feb. 14.

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Funeral services held for pilot killed in Iraq

Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Md. — More than a thousand people gathered by the Choptank River on Feb. 24 to mourn 1st Lt. Adam Mooney, who died in a helicopter crash in Iraq while searching for a missing soldier.

Following the memorial service, hundreds more stood on sidewalks and yards for miles, holding flags and signs as mourners drove to the cemetery. One sign read “Thanks Adam.”

James Adkins, a retired cavalry officer who spoke as a representative from Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s office, said the 28-year-old pilot “dared to die that freedom might live and grow.”

“Freedom lives and, through it, he lives in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men,” Adkins said.

Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., struggled to find the words to describe the community’s sadness.

“The sensitive nature of this rural community is that we turn out to do the best we can to absorb the sadness and the grief of the immediate family members and to definitely show, as best we can, our strong appreciation from a grateful nation to that service and sacrifice.”

In Cambridge, yellow ribbons and flags fluttered from trees and posts. Signs at businesses expressed condolences to family members.

The Rev. Larry Bogacz recalled the 28-year-old Mooney’s love of flying and how Mooney received his pilot’s license as a teenager.

Bogacz described Mooney as a dedicated family man who loved the town of Cambridge where he grew up.

“He was one of the Eastern Shore,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth Quinlan said Mooney’s missions often took place in “a challenging environment of low-level flight at tree-top level under night-vision-goggle-conditions, and operating at the razor’s edge” of the battle area.

“He was a cavalry officer, with a warrior’s spirit that will never die,” Quinlan said, before saluting the flag-drapped casket.

Mooney’s helicopter crashed into the Tigris River on Jan. 25. His body was found Feb. 13 near Mosul.

Mooney, who grew up crabbing, kayaking and swimming in the Choptank River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, was a member of the 3rd Squadron, 17th Calvary, 10th Mountain Division, which is based in Fort Drum, N.Y.

His co-pilot, Patrick Dorff, 32, also died in the crash.

The pilots were searching for Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, 29, who fell into the river when an Iraqi police boat in which he was riding ran out of gas drifted into low-hanging wires and capsized

The army was investigating the cause of the crash and officials have said they don’t believe hostile action was involved.

Since October 2003, he had flown Kiowa helicopters in Iraq, providing armed security for ground forces near Mosul, which is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Mooney is survived by his father, B. Patrick Mooney, 62, of Cambridge, and his mother, Wyoma McCray, 60, of Martinsburg, W.Va.

Mooney’s wife Katie spent the couple’s first wedding anniversary, Feb. 8, waiting to find out what happened to Mooney after the crash.

Mooney is also survived by his sister, Laura King, 33, of Salisbury; and a daughter from a previous marriage, Sydney, 8, who lives in St. Mary’s County.

Mooney was buried Tuesday afternoon at Old Trinity Church Cemetery in Church Creek, where the pilot received a 21-gun salute and a fly-over by four helicopters.

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Arkansas woman’s husband found dead in Iraq after missing three weeks

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With hopes and prayers over the past three weeks, Katie Mooney thought it would turn out differently.

The helicopter carrying her husband, 1st Lt. Adam Mooney, crashed into the Tigris River in Iraq on Jan. 25 and he had been missing since. Mooney’s remains were discovered Friday on an island in the river near Mosul, the Army said.

“I thought that they would find him,” Mooney said in tears Monday night from her parent’s house in Conway. “That’s what’s been so hard. We thought it was going to be a different outcome from what it was. I had so much hope and so many prayers went out for him.”

Mooney, 25, decided to come home to Conway to stay with her parents and attend nursing school at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock after Adam was deployed in November. She spent the couple’s first wedding anniversary, Feb. 8, waiting for word from Iraq.

She said they last spoke via the Internet the day before Adam flew the mission.

“He said he would talk to me in a day or two,” she said. “It was just a normal conversation. We had the web cam so we could see each other.”

Adam Mooney, 28, grew up in Cambridge, Md. He and a co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Dorff, 32, were in the crash. Both were from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Drum, N.Y. They were on a search and rescue mission for Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, who fell off an Iraqi police boat that ran out of gas.

Dorff’s body was found by military divers four days after the crash, and Bunda’s remains were found last week.

Mooney said she met her husband while he was in flight school at Fort Rucker, Ala., when two friends set them up on a date. Adam Mooney has an 8-year-old daughter from a previous marriage who lives with her mother in Maryland.

Mooney said her husband wanted to serve in Iraq.

“He told that if he didn’t get to go, he was going to try to volunteer to go,” Katie Mooney said. “He loved what he did, his job, flying.”

Yellow ribbons decorate the houses in Mooney’s neighborhood in Conway.

“He was all together just a wonderful person; he was a loving person and a wonderful father,” Mooney said. “He wanted to serve our country no matter what.”

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Body of Maryland helicopter pilot recovered after three weeks

BALTIMORE — In the three weeks since 1st Lt. Adam Mooney’s helicopter crashed into the Tigris River, his family clung to the hope he’d be found alive.

As difficult as the constant uncertainty was, Mooney’s father said Monday night that it was far better than the reality. Mooney’s remains were discovered Friday under a bridge on an island in the river near Mosul, his family said.

“We know now that we’re never going to see him again or hear his voice or see all the things he did to entertain us around the house,” B. Patrick Mooney, 62, said from his home in Cambridge, where Adam grew up. “We have his memories and that’s it. Before, while we were waiting, we had hope. Waiting wasn’t as painful as this.”

Mooney’s body was found by Mosul residents who alerted Army officials, The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash., first reported. The News Tribune has an embedded reporter with the brigade to which Mooney was attached.

“There’s nothing that can prepare you for the finality of it,” said Mooney’s mother, Wyoma McCray, 60, from her home in Martinsburg, W.Va. “As difficult as the waiting was, we at least had hope that he would get out of this OK.”

Officials gave no further details on Mooney’s death, McCray said, including whether those who found the body would receive rewards offered by the Army of up to $1,000 for information about Mooney’s whereabouts.

Mooney’s father also said the circumstances of his son’s death, recovery and the helicopter crash were unclear. The Army was investigating the cause of the crash, and officials have said they don’t believe hostile action was involved.

Mooney and co-pilot Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Dorff, 32, both from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Drum, N.Y., crashed into the Tigris on Jan. 25.

The pilots were searching for Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, 29, who fell into the river when an Iraqi police boat in which he was riding ran out of gas, drifted into low-hanging wires and capsized.

The boat was dispatched to check two islands for insurgents who fired mortars on previous nights at the U.S. base in the Mosul presidential palace. At least two Iraqi police officers were also missing and presumed dead.

Dorff’s body was found by military divers four days after the crash, and Bunda’s remains were found last week.

Mooney, 28, grew up crabbing, kayaking and swimming in the Choptank River in Cambridge, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Since October 2003, he had flown Kiowa helicopters in Iraq, providing armed security for ground forces near Mosul, which is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Mooney’s wife, Katie, who is living with her parents in Conway, Ark., spent the couple’s first wedding anniversary, Feb. 8, waiting for word from Iraq.

“I thought that they would find him (alive),” she said in tears Monday night. “That’s what’s been so hard. We thought it was going to be a different outcome from what it was. I had so much hope and so many prayers went out for him.”

Mooney’s father said the family was devastated.

“Knowing his nature and the scrapes he has been in during his life and gotten out of, most of us expected him to get out of this, too,” he said. “I believe his comrades in Iraq believed the same thing. That’s why the positive outlook continued for twenty-some-odd days.”

Mooney said he didn’t know when his son’s remains might arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, but he expected there to be a public memorial service for his son in Cambridge.

Mooney is also survived by a sister Laura King, 33, of Salisbury; and a daughter from a previous marriage, Sydney, 8, who lives in St. Mary’s County, Maryland.

— Associated Press

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Maryland soldier missing after Iraq chopper crash

BALTIMORE — An Army pilot from the Eastern Shore was one of two men missing after his helicopter crashed into the Tigris River during a rescue mission near Mosul, Iraq, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

First Lt. Adam Mooney, 28, of Cambridge, was aboard a Kiowa Warrior helicopter that crashed Sunday while searching for a soldier from a capsized boat, officials said.

Military divers were still searching the muddy waters of the Tigris on Tuesday for the soldiers, a military spokesman said. The wreckage of the helicopter was recovered.

B. Patrick Mooney, 62, Adam’s father, said Tuesday evening from his home in Cambridge that he was still hopeful, although the waiting was painful.

“There are so many scenarios that are possible,” he said. “We’re waiting, and you have to do something, so you talk and you work, and you just try and keep it together until you’re certain of Adam’s status.”

Adam Mooney grew up crabbing, kayaking and swimming in the Choptank River in Cambridge. He graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with a degree in aviation management science, his father said.

“We’ve been raised on the river here, and we know what rivers are, and, of course, he went down on a river,” Mooney’s father said. “So we have mixed feelings of hope and despair.”

Mooney said his son’s wife, Katie, lives with her parents in Conway, Ark.

Also aboard the helicopter was Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Dorff, 32, of suburban Minneapolis. The Pentagon said the cause of the crash wasn’t known, but was being investigated.

Mooney and Dorff were assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 17th Calvary, 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, N.Y. Since October 2003, Mooney has flown Kiowa helicopters in Iraq, providing armed security for ground forces near Mosul, which is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Mooney’s helicopter was searching for a soldier missing when the boat he was in capsized earlier Sunday. Three other soldiers in the boat were safe, but two Iraqi police officers and an Iraqi translator were killed in the incident, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a military spokeswoman.

The soldier missing from the capsized boat, Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, 29, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry, at Fort Lewis, Wash.

Five U.S. helicopters have been lost in Iraq this month, three of them downed by hostile fire.

Adam Mooney’s mother, Wyoma McCray, 60, who lives in Martinsburg, W.Va., said her son called her in the middle of the night after a recent helicopter crash just so she knew he was OK.

“This is a kid that ever since he was born, he’s wanted to get everything out of life,” McCray said. “We just want him back home. We know he’s very resourceful and he has a lot of inner strength and courage.”

— Caryn Rousseau, Associated Press