Community mourns Cape Coral soldier killed in helicopter crash

Reporter: Samantha Johns Writer: Joey Pellegrino
Published: Updated:

A Cape Coral family and their community were left lost, forced to say goodbye too soon after a man they loved died in a tragic military training accident over U.S. soil.

32-year-old Aaron Healy was among nine soldiers killed in a helicopter accident near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, last week.

His family says he always had a smile on his face when he was around Blackhawk helicopters.

“Boy, he liked being a soldier,” said his father, Michael Healy.

An army pilot, Healy had graduated flight school in October after switching from being a mechanic. A fifth-generation service member, his parents Michael and Vicki always knew there was a chance their son might not come home to them.

But, after Aaron returned from two tours overseas, they never expected his death to come in a training exercise along the Kentucky-Tennessee line, just states away from their Cape Coral home.

“I asked the uniformed soldiers yesterday if there was any chance that this was a mistake. And they said, ‘no,'” Vicki Healy said.

“You have superior officers and people that are educated and learned and in charge and you think, you know, it should be safe,” Michael Healy said. “But there’s always those variables.”

Aaron Healy died when two HH-60 black hawk helicopters crashed. Why they crashed is still under investigation. He leaves behind his wife Sierra and two daughters, 12-year-old Blakelyn and 10-year-old Dakota.

Senior Vice Comm. Gerry Harvey, a Marine veteran and Honor Guard commander at Cape Coral’s VFW Post 8463, tells WINK News it’s his job to help families like the Healys honor their fallen sons and daughters.

“We try to provide as many people as we can,” Harvey said. “Eight to 12 people to provide the honors to the veteran or to the service member.”

At a funeral, they typically begin with a prayer and a rifle salute. The family is then presented with a folded flag which represents the end of the soldier’s military service.

“It is the like the last goodbye from the military,” Harvey said.

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