Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brady J. Rudolf

Died September 17, 2008 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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37, of Oklahoma City; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, Task Force 34, Oklahoma National Guard, Lexington, Okla.; died Sept. 17 when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter he was in went down in the vicinity of Tallil, Iraq. Also killed were Chief Warrant Officer 2 Corry A. Edwards, Sgt. Daniel M. Eshbaugh, Sgt. Anthony L. Mason, 1st Sgt. Julio C. Ordonez, Cpl. Michael E. Thompson and 1st Lt. Robert Vallejo II.

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Army Chief Warrant Officer Brady J. Rudolf remembered

The Associated Press

Roger Northcutt, Brady J. Rudolf’s cousin, said people who met him were lucky. Rudolf took the time to care about people.

“If you look at his photograph, you’ll see a sparkle in his eyes,” Northcutt said. “It’s actually not a sparkle, but in reality, it’s the brightest, and hottest white light that man has created on this earth — it’s the light of freedom.”

Rudolf, 37, of Oklahoma City, was killed Sept. 18 when his helicopter went down near Tallil. He was assigned to Lexington, Okla.

Rudolf, a pharmacist who was voted class clown by his graduating class, served as a CH-47 Chinook pilot and had been in the National Guard for more than 20 years and deployed to Iraq in 2003.

“He was a jokester but he could be serious too when it mattered,” said his brother, Dustin. “He was a conscientious pilot who liked to take care of people. He would give the shirt off his back for anyone.”

He also is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and his sons Braden, Ty and Nate.

“He had this captivating smile that drew me in the moment I met him, and a natural ability to take care of people,” his wife said.