Family, Friends Eulogize Pilot Killed in Gulf as a Special Hero

Shortly after they were notified of his death, the mother and sister of a helicopter pilot killed in the Persian Gulf combed through a list of war casualties published in a Los Angeles newspaper.

The name of Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class James Frederick Crockford Jr. was not on that list. Due to a quirk in military regulations, he is listed as missing in action, because his body has not been recovered. But his sister, Gwendy Crockford-Dainard of Canoga Park, was determined that her brother’s death not go unnoticed.

“He was my hero,” said Crockford-Dainard, an executive secretary in Calabasas. “I want the world to know how special he was.”

On Saturday, about 100 family members and friends gathered to pay tribute to Crockford, who was killed Feb. 22 in a helicopter crash in the Red Sea, at a memorial service at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chatsworth.

Crockford-Dainard, 27, arranged the tribute to her brother to the last detail and made sure the media knew about the service.

“My daughter did all this,” said her mother, Adelaide Fahey, also of Canoga Park.

Pictures of the 30-year-old Crockford in uniform and as a Culver City High School senior were placed on a table covered by an American flag. A detail from the U.S. Naval Station in Long Beach presented a flag to Fahey and sounded taps.

A video put together by Crockford-Dainard featured pictures of Crockford at various stages of his life. A tape of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” played as the pictures were shown.

Family, friends, church members and Navy representatives eulogized the pilot as an exemplary officer and a gentle man.

Crockford’s niece, 12-year-old Candice Dainard, read a poem she had written, and his brother-in-law, Kevin Dainard, offered a prayer. Bishop Jack Dahl read a letter of condolence sent to Fahey by President George Bush.

“History will show that James gave his life for a noble cause,” Bush said.

Saying she knew her brother was listening, Crockford-Dainard spoke directly to him. “You gave me confidence when I didn’t have any,” she said. “You told me I was beautiful when I thought I wasn’t. . . . You were always my hero. You were the wind beneath my wings. I love you, big brother.”

Crockford’s best friend, Christopher Marsiglia, said he and Crockford became “instant brothers” at their first meeting in high school.

“Jimmy was a kind, gentle person who would give you the shirt off his back,” he said. “Back then, we set goals in life, and we both decided we wanted to help others. He joined the Navy, and he told me he had never been happier.”

Navy Chaplain Travis Phillips told of the circumstances of Crockford’s death while he was stationed on the combat support ship Seattle. Crockford was flying a mission ro rearm the battleship John F. Kennedy when the helicopter crashed into the deep waters of the Red Sea.

Crockford was a dedicated officer who achieved many honors in the Navy, and was “head and shoulders” and “a model to be followed,” Phillips said.

After the service, Crockford-Dainard said she regrets that her brother’s body will not be recovered from the Red Sea. “They told us his body was so far down in the ocean that the chances were very slim that they could recover it,” she said.