Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Houx | Patches, coins, medallions and other mementos surround the fallen Soldier display of...... read more read more
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq - Army Spc. Michael S. Cote Jr., who died in a downed UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter Saturday, was honored Wednesday in a memorial ceremony here.
More than 600 people - Soldiers, Airmen and civilians - filled Sustainer Theater to pay their respects to active-duty Soldier, Cote, 20, who was a crew chief with Company A, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, headquartered at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Cote's unit was assigned to Task Force 38, and the company conducted aviation support missions in Iraq.
During the ceremony Company A Soldiers spoke about their friend and comrade.
"The easiest way to describe Spc. Cote would be to compare him to Cooter from the 'Dukes of Hazard,'" said Spc. James Foster, a Company A crew chief. "He was the crazy mechanic, who was always friendly and well mannered, but always seemed to be getting his cousins out of tough situations. That's exactly what Michael did on a day-to-day basis."
Foster described Cote as an affable young man who was the embodiment of southern hospitality.
"He made friends with everyone he met and had that deep southern accent blended with a little bit of Cajun," said Foster of the Denham Springs, La.-born Cote.
Cote's friend, Spc. Jeff Miller, also said that he was an important component to the well-being of the nearly 50 person company.
"Our company is so small. It's like everyone is a piece of the puzzle that keeps us going through this deployment. Cote's piece was a big piece," said Miller, a fellow Company A crew chief. "He was the guy that kept everyone smiling, making us forget about the hard times we were going through."
The Company A commander, Capt. Russ Vanderlugt, recalled a specific time how Cote was able to do that.
"On my last flight with Spc. Cote, things had grown quiet during a long, boring leg over the desert. I said, 'Cote say something,' knowing I would get a humorous response," said Vanderlugt. "I was not disappointed when he reacted in his usual way with some nonsense words and noises and soon had the entire crew laughing."
Prior to and following the ceremony a slide show, interspersed with video clips, showed Cote smiling and joking with friends. In full combat gear Cote posed like a bikini model on a helicopter pad. A video clip showed Cote trying to break open a table top with his head. Both garnered laughs during an otherwise somber ceremony.
Cote's contribution to the unit during the deployment wasn't all fun and games though. He logged 291 flight hours, 216 of which were combat hours. He was a UH-60 Black Hawk mechanic who earned the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
"When he arrived to our company, he had little knowledge or experience, but we trained Cote, and he quickly progressed and excelled as a Black Hawk crew chief, becoming an asset to our team," said Vanderlugt.
In addition to the commander's comments and fellow Soldier tributes, the company's first sergeant performed a last roll call, a firing party fired a 21-gun salute, and a bugler played "Taps."
Following the formal end of the ceremony, generals to privates filed by the fallen Soldier display which consisted of a helmet positioned atop a rifle draped with the fallen Soldier's dog tags that sat above a pair of boots. All but the civilians saluted, some took a knee and prayed, and some left mementos.
Those mementos will be sent to Cote's family. Cote is survived by his wife, Ashlee, and daughter, Brooke.
| Date Taken: | 09.25.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 09.25.2009 06:57 |
| Story ID: | 39240 |
| Location: | BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 936 |
| Downloads: | 696 |
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