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Iraq copter victim buried at academyBaptized there 25 years agoAIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — First Lt. Laura Ashley Piper, who:* helicopter was mistakenly shot down over Iraq, was buried Saturday near the same Air Force chapel where she was baptized 25 years ago.The pews were lined with Air Force cadets in somber blue. They stood proudly during the posting of the colors, as the flags were placed by marching cadets, and again when the casket, covered with a U.S. flag, was guided in.'‘Laura's a modest person, she'd be taken aback by all this,” said Piper’s fiance, Lt. Dan Murray.The cadets sat stiff-necked, eyes forward, until Murray began sharing his recollections of Piper. As he remembered the woman who loved to giggle, who talked with herhands in constant motion, repeatedly broke her nose playing rugby and always lost her term papers to computers, the dignity of her comrades gave way to grief and tears.Murray saw his fiance days before her death while the couple vacationed in Egypt.‘‘When we kissed goodbye ... she was happier than I ’ve ever seen her,” Murray said. ‘‘She knew she was loved, she was happy and she was off on another adventure.Piper was one of 26 people, including 15 Americans, who died April 14 when two U.S jets mistakenly fired on two helicopters carrying a United Nations relief mission.Piper, an air operations intelligence analyst stationed in Rams-tein, Germany, was on a temporary assignment in Turkey. She was helping with a mission to rebuild Kurdish villages destroyed by Iraqi troops.
Newspaper Details
Dickinson Press
Dickinson, North Dakota, US
Sun, Apr 24, 1994
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Sandi P.
USA 13 Jul 2017
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