CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Colorado National Guardsman David Carter is being remembered as an accomplished helicopter pilot, an expert flight instructor and a reliable comrade.
“While our shock loss and grief are monumental...so too has been the support that the Carter family received,” said family friend and spokeswoman Yolanda Levesque at a Tuesday news conference in Centennial.
“He was an outstanding husband and father, son, brother and soldier. He was a friend to all who met him...quick with a smile and always with a twinkle in his beautiful blue eyes.”
Carter, a chief warrant officer based at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, died along with 29 other Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs, as he flew their Chinook helicopter into a firefight with Taliban forces in a remote part of Afghanistan Saturday.
The aircraft was shot down by Taliban militants.
“He was flying our nation’s elite forces into combat,” said Col. Chris Petty, Carter’s friend and fellow pilot, “that is what he wanted to do.”
Gov. John Hickenlooper expressed sadness and gratitude in a statement Tuesday.
“Carter died a hero while protecting the freedoms we sometimes take for granted,” the governor said. “We are grateful for his service to our country and to the Colorado Army National Guard. Carter’s family and friends are in our thoughts and prayers as we join the entire nation in mourning his death.”
The governor will order flags be lowered to half-staff on all public buildings statewide on the day of Carter’s funeral, which has not yet been determined.
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