UPDATE, Friday, 1:50 p.m. : Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has ordered all flags at state agency offices be flown at half-staff on Wednesday, November 4th in honor of U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Niall Lyons of Spokane, who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
SPOKANE -- The Department of Defense confirmed the identities of seven American soldiers who died of wounds from a helicopter crash in Darreh-ye Bum, Afghanistan on October 26.
One of the soldiers was 40-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Niall Lyons of Spokane. According to the Department of Defense, Lyons volunteered for Army service in October 1994. After serving three years in the Army as an enlisted soldier, Lyons was accepted into the Army Warrant Officer Program at Fort Rucker, Alabama in 1998. Upon graduation from flight school in 1999, Lyons was assigned to 1st Squadron, 17th Calvary Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a tactical operations officer.
In 2003, while stationed at Fort Rucker, he was assigned to 1-14th Aviation Battalion as an instructor pilot followed by an assignment with 1-145th Aviation Battalion as an Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course small group leader. In 2006, he was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 17th Calvary Regiment at Fort Drum, New York as an instructor pilot and instrument examiner. After a successful assessment in 2009, Lyons was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) in Savannah, Georgia. Lyons earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography from Eastern Washington University in 1995.
He was a combat veteran with two deployments; one in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and one in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
According to the Department of Defense, Lyons is survived by his son, and his parents, brothers and sister who live in Spokane.
The other six soldiers who died in the crash include:
Chief Warrant Officer Michael P. Montgomery, 36, of Savannah, Ga.
Staff Sgt. Shawn H. McNabb, 24, of Terrel, Texas.
Sgt. Josue E. Hernandez Chavez, 23, of Reno, Nev.
Sgt. Nikolas A. Mueller, 26, of Little Chute, Wisc.
Sgt. 1st Class David E. Metzger, 32, of San Diego, Calif.
Staff Sgt. Keith R. Bishop, 28, of Medford, N.Y.
