Boom3: Justin L. O'Donohoe, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Justin L. O'Donohoe, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Drum, N.Y.
A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: May 5, 2006
Abad, Afghanistan
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: San Diego
High School: Mira Mesa High (San Diego)
Burial: Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego

Wanting to see action, he chose to become an Army scout, a dangerous, skilled job requiring him to go out in a combat zone ahead of a main force, surreptitiously locating and providing target information.

"He didn't want to be in the back," said his father, Pat. "He wanted to be in the front."

The 27-year-old specialist was among 10 soldiers killed May 5 in a nighttime helicopter crash in a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province, near the Pakistani border.

As soon as O'Donohoe left for boot camp in 2004 at Ft. Knox, Ky., his brother, Kyle, noticed how much Justin enjoyed himself.

He later became a top gunner and was certified as an emergency medical technician.

"You could tell from the way he talked, he loved what he was doing," his brother said. "To him, it was like a big camping trip," getting muddy and "sleeping out under the stars -- something that we always liked to do when we were growing up."

O'Donohoe's last call home was a 10-minute conversation just after midnight a week after Easter. He had no complaints about sleeping under his truck, saying it was "not bad," his father said.

O'Donohoe's parents had told him not to worry about the 12-hour time difference, saying, "Whenever you find a phone, call, and we'll wake up."

"He was a kid worth knowing," his father said.

In addition to his father and brother, O'Donohoe is survived by his mother, Pam; his grandparents, Joe and Liz O'Donohoe of Bella Vista, Ark.; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.