Cornell C. Chao
Profile
Age: 36
From: Orange City, Calif.
Assigned to the 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas
Incident: Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Cornell C. Chao died Jan 28 of wounds sustained when his helicopter crashed during combat operations in Najaf, Iraq. Also killed was Army Capt. Mark T. Resh.
Died: January 28, 2007
Chopper pilot was a hero to folks in Orange County
The Associated Press
ORANGE, Calif. — Army helicopter pilot Cornell C. Chao was a hero in his Orange County hometown, where the residents of a retirement home threw a party for him when he returned from his second tour in Iraq.
A photograph of the 36-year-old pilot, who graduated from Fullerton’s Sunny Hills High School in 1988, hung in the lobby at Kirkwood Assisted Living Residence and those living there continued writing Chao when he was shipped back to Iraq a third time.
Army Chief Warrant Officer Chao died Jan. 28 when his Apache helicopter went down near Najaf, Iraq. Chao was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Chao bought a house in Killeen, Texas, near the military base, a few years ago.
“I did take a liking to him,” said Doris Hunsaker, 93, one of the Kirkwood...