2 Military Crash Victims Were on the Ground

Two soldiers who lay on the ground pretending to be injured during a training exercise were among the six servicemen killed when two helicopters collided.

The other four soldiers killed were on the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters that crashed Tuesday after one veered into the other and the aircrafts’ main rotor blades collided.

Twenty-eight soldiers, including a third pretend victim on the ground, were injured. All were members of the elite 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, which straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky state line.

Two civilian spectators suffered minor injuries from flying debris.

By late Wednesday, at least five of the injured soldiers had been released from Blanchfield Army Community hospital on the Army post. Four soldiers remained at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

An amateur videotape shot by a spectator and aired Wednesday evening by WTVF-TV in Nashville showed metal flying as the two helicopters made contact, breaking off one chopper’s tail section and sending both helicopters plummeting to the ground.

The dead were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Francisco Ruiz, 31, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; Sgt. John Harrison, 35, of Foster City, Calif.; Specialists Larry Hinson, 25, of Red Level, Ala., and Nathan Shirley, 23, of Sandusky, Ohio; and Privates Robert Hicks, 20, of Philadelphia, and Angel Bernal-Frias, 20, of Tucson, Ariz.