‘Gung-Ho’ DEA Agent Killed in Copter Crash : Casualties: He was on combat support mission as Marine reserve major when his gunship crashed. Colleague said the reservist had a commitment to hazardous duty.

A Marine reserve major killed in a helicopter crash in the Persian Gulf War was a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent assigned to San Diego, DEA officials said Tuesday.

The agent, Eugene Thomas McCarthy, 35, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., whose reserve unit was based at Camp Pendleton, was killed Saturday when the Cobra helicopter gunship in which he was traveling crashed during a combat support mission, the DEA said.

The Pentagon has not released details about the crash.

In the words of one fellow DEA agent, McCarthy “redefined the meaning of the term gung-ho, “ volunteering for duty as a pilot in South America and demonstrating a commitment to sometimes hazardous duties.

“He was dedicated,” said Julius Beretta, agent in charge of the DEA office in San Diego, where McCarthy was based for most of his 2 1/2 years as a drug agent. “I really feel he had a heck of a future in front of him with the DEA.”

In San Diego, McCarthy chose to serve as a DEA special agent after finishing first in his class at the DEA training academy in December, 1988. He was single and resided in northern San Diego County with another agent, authorities said.

“Gene was very bright, very capable, and extremely well-liked by everyone in the division,” said Beretta, who added that McCarthy had served in the agency’s Carlsbad and San Diego offices. “You couldn’t have helped liking the guy. He was very enthusiastic, very responsive. We’re all quite saddened about what happened.”

The desire to serve in law enforcement apparently runs in his family. McCarthy, a strapping 6-footer, was the son and namesake of a retired New York police officer. A brother, Dennis, is a special agent with the U.S. Customs Service based at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

McCarthy graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1977 and was an active-duty Marine for the next 11 years. He had extensive experience as both a helicopter pilot and a flying instructor, the DEA said.

He joined the the DEA in mid-1988, the DEA said, and later finished first in his class at the agency’s Basic Agent Academy in Quantico, Va., where new agents are taught a variety of physical, educational and leadership skills.

As a rookie agent, authorities said, McCarthy provided support to a number of important cases involving smugglers of cocaine and marijuana. Early last year, officials said, he volunteered to participate in Operation Snowcap, the DEA code name for an ongoing anti-drug operation in support of police and military authorities in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia.

McCarthy was stationed at a base manned by DEA and Peruvian authorities along Peru’s Huallaga River, one of the central production areas for coca leaf, the raw material of cocaine. His task--a sometimes hazardous one--involving flying surveillance missions designed to spot coca fields, clandestine runways, production facilities and other strategic sites, said Cornelius Dougherty, a DEA spokesman in Washington.

McCarthy had completed one three-month tour in Peru and was in the midst of a second one when, in the fall of last year, he was called up by the Marine reserves. He was attached to Marine Attack Heli-Squadron 775, which is based at Camp Pendleton, and had the rank of major.

In January, after some refresher training, McCarthy and others were shipped out for duty in Saudi Arabia.