BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- The Barksdale community joined family and friends Friday to honor the Airmen of Raider 21, a B-52 that crashed off the coast of Guam leaving no survivors.
Attendees packed the Hoban Hall memorial service to pay tribute to the lives of Maj. Christopher Cooper, Maj. Brent Williams, Capt. Michael Dodson, 1st Lt. Robert Gerren and 1st Lt. Joshua Shepherd. A sixth officer, Col. George Martin, stationed at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was also part of the crew.
"Our nation suffered a heartbreaking loss this week," said Col. Robert Wheeler, 2d Bomb Wing commander. "These husbands, fathers, brothers and sons made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country."
Outside the gate, area residents echoed his sentiment by demonstrating support for Barksdale with flags at half staff, condolence messages on commercial signs, and flower arrangements. An informal memorial--cards, flowers, and ribbons--emerged outside Barksdale's North gate.
To conclude the "celebration of life" attendees watched a spirited B-52 video presentation that Colonel Wheeler said, "Captured the essence of what they believed in--what they stood for as American Airmen."
The Barksdale members were deployed to Guam with the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron as part of the DoD's continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific.
"Monday morning, July 21st, Raider 21 was cleared for takeoff. There's no way they could have known it would be their last mission," said Colonel Wheeler. "They spent their last minutes doing what they loved, flying in defense of our nation--it was not in vain."