Military Times
Honor The Fallen
Honoring those who fought and died in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn
Search Our Database





  





Bookmark and Share

Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Steven E. Shephard

Died June 27, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom


30, of Purcell, Okla.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; killed June 27 when his AH-64D Apache helicopter crashed near Taji, Iraq. Also killed was Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Keith R. Mariotti.

Oklahoma soldier killed in Iraq

By Sean Murphy

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — A Purcell soldier was killed when his helicopter crashed about 20 miles north of Baghdad, family members confirmed Tuesday.

Army Warrant Officer Steven Shephard, 30, was one of the two pilots aboard the AH-64 Apache helicopter that crashed in Mishahda on Monday, his uncle, Earl Shephard, said.

“He was just a tremendous kid,” Earl Shephard told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He believed in what he was doing and was proud to be doing what he was doing.

“The family’s taking it pretty hard.”

Steven Shephard had been in Iraq since January, Earl Shephard said. His wife is expecting the couple’s first child in September, Earl Shephard said.

A witness to the crash, Mohammad Naji, told Associated Press Television News he saw two helicopters flying toward Mishahda when “a rocket hit one of them and destroyed it completely in the air.”

The Department of Defense could not confirm Shephard’s death, but said the crash remains under investigation.

Shephard was a 1993 graduate of Purcell High School who played baseball and played the saxophone in the school’s marching band and had a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot, said his childhood friend, Jeff Pierce.

“Since he was a very little kid he had always loved everything about flying and jets,” Pierce said. “Me and all of our other friends knew that Steve would be one of the few that would live his dream. Sure enough, that’s how it all came together.”

Pierce said Shephard also had a great sense of humor and was voted “most witty” during his senior year.

“Steve was a card,” Pierce said. “It was like being around Jim Carrey when you were around him.”

Shephard’s high school baseball coach, Mike Robinson, described him as a hardworking and dedicated player who always had an interest in aviation.

“I remember him telling me that he needed to miss practice because he was going to some kind of aviation camp,” Robinson said. “That’s what he wanted to do. He always wanted to fly.”

Shephard joined the Army in 2002 and was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., Pierce said. And while he always dreamed of flying a fighter jet, Pierce said he knew Shephard was happy to be flying a helicopter.

“He died doing what he loved,” Pierce said. “And he probably had a smile on his face.”

View By Year & Month

2002   2001

Military Times
© 2018 Sightline Media Group
Not A U.S. Government Publication