DOB/DOD: November 6, 1982 (Grovetown, GA) – November 2, 2003; 20 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Yeaton Street; Waterbury
ENLISTMENT: April 10, 2002
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 31R; Multichannel Transmission Systems Operator-Maintainer
UNIT: 313th Signal Company (TROPO), 16th Signal Brigade; Fort Hood, Texas
FAMILY: Born to Steven A. D’Agostino [Army veteran] (1958-) and Debra A. DeLoughery D’Agostino Smith (1960-). Stepfather, Paul Granahan (1959-). One sister, Lisa D’Agostino (1984-).
DECORATIONS: Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal (Expeditionary), Global War on Terrorism Medal (Service), Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Signal Badge.
CIRCUMSTANCES: He was one of 15 soldiers killed when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were in was shot down. They were on their way to Qatar for R&R. The others killed in the incident:
Army 1st Lieutenant Brian D. Slavenas; Genoa, Illinois
Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bruce A. Smith; West Liberty, Iowa
Army Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Bader; Colorado Springs, Colorado
Army Staff Sergeant Ernest G. Bucklew; Enon Valley, Pennsylvania
Army Staff Sergeant Paul A. Velazquez; San Diego, California
Army Staff Sergeant Joe N. Wilson; Crystal Springs, Mississippi
Army Sergeant Keelan L. Moss; Houston, Texas
Army Sergeant Ross A. Pennanen; Shawnee, Oklahoma
Army Sergeant Joel Perez; Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Army Specialist Steven D. Conover; Wilmington, Ohio
Army Specialist Darius T. Jennings; Cordova, South Carolina
Army Specialist Brian H. Penisten; Fort Wayne, Indiana
Army Specialist Frances M. Vega; Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico
Army Private First Class Karina S. Lau; Livingston, California
W.F. Kaynor Regional Technical-Vocational High School, Waterbury; Class of 2001. No senior picture.
Monument outside of W.F. Kaynor Technical High School and a copy of the front page of the school’s annual program to honor alumni who died in the military. Photos contributed by Art Greene, Library Media Specialist.
From The Hartford Courant on November 4, 2003
Private First Class Anthony D. D’Agostino of Connecticut was among 16 U.S. soldiers killed when a missile
downed an Army helicopter in Iraq over the weekend, never shirked tough or dangerous duty, his stepfather said Monday. “Actually, if you could possibly say this, he enjoyed it a little bit,” said Paul Granahan of Waterbury. “You know the fact that there was danger there. He was doing what he wanted to do, and he was a young man.” D’Agostino, who grew up in Middlebury and last lived in Waterbury, died Sunday, four days short of his 21st birthday. A shoulder-fired missile hit the packed Chinook helicopter carrying D’Agostino and other soldiers out for two weeks of leave. Assigned to the 16th Signal Brigade in Fort Hood, Texas, D’Agostino had been in Iraq for six months, serving as a radio operator and electrical repairman. The guerrilla attack was the single deadliest assault against U.S. troops since the war began in March. Sixteen soldiers were killed, and another 20 were injured. D’Agostino was proud to be serving in Iraq, family members said. But his family was nervous. “You never stop worrying,” said his aunt, Beth Santos. D’Agostino joined the military after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, looking for an education, career, and a place to belong, Santos said. He hoped to go to the U.S. Military Academy. When he wrote letters or e-mails home from Iraq, he talked about the hot weather and how uncomfortable the situation was, Santos said. He would ask his family for Kool-Aid to flavor his water, for crossword puzzles, and for books to help him learn Spanish. “He was always looking for ways to better himself,” she said. “We wanted to make good use of his time over there.” Born at Fort Gordon, Georgia, while his father was in the military. D’Agostino graduated from Kayner Regional Vocational-Technical School in Waterbury with a specialty in electricity, his family said. Donald Slater, who lives in Middlebury next door to D’Agostino’s grandparents, said he was struck by D’Agostino’s work ethic. Slater recalled that the fit young man would cut his grandparents’ vast lawn with a stand-up mower. “He was the all-American boy,” Slater said, standing on his front porch. “He was a handsome boy. Strong. A hard worker. Smart. Had everything going for him. “He gave his life for his country.” The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was downed as it carried the soldiers to the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport so they could fly out for their leave. The soldiers were from Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Another casualty, Sergeant Ernest G. Bucklew, 33, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Carson, had grabbed a seat on Sunday’s flight after receiving word that his mother had died of an aneurysm at her home near Pittsburgh. Now, mother and son will be buried together. The helicopter’s pilot, First Lieutenant Brian D. Slavenas, 30, a National Guard officer from Genoa, Illinois, died as he landed the flaming aircraft. His piloting may have been why 20 soldiers survived the attack, suggested his mother, Rosemarie Slavenas of Rockford, Illinois. Despite his passion for flying, he was not eager to do so in Iraq. “He did not want to go on this operation,” she said. “He told me on the phone that he resigned his commission and then wasn’t allowed to resign. “The last time I saw him, he said, ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody.’” Another casualty, Private First Class Karina S. Lau, 20, a radio operator who trained at Fort Hood, had planned to surprise her parents by going home to Livingston, California, on leave. “I’m in shock. I can’t believe it, not yet,” said her mother, Ruth Lau. “Until I see the body, I’m thinking maybe it’s a mistake. Maybe she’s OK. She was my baby girl.” Governor John G. Rowland on Monday ordered state flags lowered to half-staff in honor of D’Agostino, the sixth member of the military from Connecticut to die in Iraq. “His loss is a terrible reminder of the thousands of men and women in uniform who are still selflessly fighting the global war on terrorism to preserve our freedoms,” Rowland said in a news release. Middlebury First Selectman Edward St. John, who knew D’Agostino’s parents, said the town of 6,000 was devastated. The D’Agostinos were longtime residents of Middlebury, he said. “This touches everyone. We lost many in Vietnam, but this is our first casualty in the Gulf Wars,” St. John said. “It’s a shocking thing,” Slater, the neighbor, said. “He was so young.” Courant staff Writers Katie Melone, Ann Marie Somma, and Joann Klimkiewicz contributed to this story, which includes material from the Associated Press and the Washington Post.
From Chinook-Helicopter.com
FALLUJAH, Iraq – A U.S. Chinook helicopter carrying troops en route home for leave was struck by a missile Sunday and crashed west of Baghdad, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 26, the U.S. command and witnesses reported.
It was the deadliest day for American troops in the six-month-old occupation of Iraq and came amid threats attributed to Saddam Hussein’s party of a wave of violence against the U.S. occupation.
There was still no sign of the rumored “Day of Resistance” allegedly planned for Baghdad on Saturday. But at least one other American soldier was confirmed killed Sunday in ground attacks here and elsewhere in central Iraq.
Witnesses said they saw two missiles fired at the heavy transport copter, the biggest U.S. target yet shot from the skies by Iraq’s insurgents. It had been ferrying soldiers to Baghdad International Airport for flights out of the country for rest and relaxation, or R & R.
The aircraft was hit at about 9 a.m. (06:00 GMT) and crashed amid corn fields near the village of Hasi, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Baghdad and 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Fallujah, a center of Sunni Muslim resistance to the U.S. occupation.
Insurgents have fired on U.S. aircraft before, downing two helicopters, and American military officials have repeatedly warned that hundreds of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles remain unaccounted for in Iraq since the collapse of Saddam’s regime in April.
The missiles apparently flashed toward the helicopter from behind, as usual, with heat-seeking missiles such as the Russian-made SA-7. The old Iraqi army had a large inventory of SA-7s, also known as the “Strela” shoulder-fired missile. In Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said such weapons “do have the ability to shoot down aircraft or helicopters, and from time to time it happens in various locations.” Secretary Rumsfeld told NBC television that at least 10 of the dead were US soldiers. There is no confirmation of the type of weapon system that was fired at the helicopter. Only the completion of a thorough investigation will reveal this information.
Secretary Rumsfeld went on to say, “It’s clearly a tragic day for America … In a long, hard war, we’re going to have tragic days,” Rumsfeld said. “But they’re necessary. They’re part of a war that’s difficult and complicated.”
“The Chinook was shot down by an unknown weapon,” a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said on condition of anonymity. U.S. command in Baghdad said there were 16 killed and 20 wounded and that a search was underway for possible other survivors. A U.S. military spokesman, Colonel William Darley, confirmed the casualty count but said the cause of the crash was under investigation. He said witnesses reported seeing what they believed were missile trails. “As a result of the crash, 15 were killed in action and 26 wounded,” said Darley, confirming the dead were soldiers from the US-led coalition but without specifying how many were Americans.
The death toll surpasses the 23 March ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company, in which 11 soldiers were killed, nine were wounded, and seven were captured, including Private Jessica Lynch.
The helicopter was part of a formation of two Chinooks carrying a total of more than 50 passengers to the U.S. base at the former Saddam International Airport, renamed Baghdad International Airport, which the military calls BIA.
“Our initial report is that they were being transported to BIA for R and R flights,” a U.S. command spokeswoman in Baghdad said. She said at least some were coming from Camp Ridgway, believed to be an 82nd Airborne Division base in western Iraq.
Villagers said the copters took off from the air base at Habbaniyah, about 10 miles northwest of the crash site. At the scene, villager Thaer Ali, 21, said someone fired two missiles from the area of a date palm grove about 500 yards from where the stricken copter crashed.
“I saw two helicopters coming from (the US military airport in) Habbaniyah. Two missiles were fired; one of them missed one of the helicopters, and the other hit the tail of the other aircraft,” said taxi driver Rauf Suleiman Abed, 35.
Farmer Mohamad al-Issawi told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “a projectile struck the tail of the helicopter at around 9:00 am. I saw fire coming out of the front of the aircraft, which then crashed.” Issawi said the owner of the land where the helicopter crashed “fled the area with his family of some 15 people immediately after the explosion.” “Human remains were found 500 yards away,” he said.
Yassin Mohamed, another witness, said he ran out of his house, a half-mile away, when he heard an explosion. “I saw the Chinook burning. I ran toward it because I wanted to help put out the fire, but couldn’t get near because of American soldiers.”
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday, Abdul Rahman Hatem stepped outside his home in a farming village just south of Fallujah to watch two twin-rotored U.S. Army Chinook helicopters lumber across the cloudless sky. Moments later, two orange flashes burst from a cluster of date palms a few hundred yards away.
The lead Chinook, Hatem says, discharged flares to deflect the first incoming missile, but a second slammed into the underbelly of the other low-flying military helicopter, which exploded in a ball of fire. “I watched two bodies fall out of the helicopter. They were in flames,” said Hatem. The crippled chopper stayed aloft for another half-mile or so, then plummeted into a field after the pilots lost the desperate battle to control the stricken craft.
Witnesses said the second copter hovered over the downed craft for some minutes and then set down, apparently to try to help extinguish a fire. The downed copter was already destroyed.
At least a half-dozen Black Hawk helicopters later hovered over the area, and dozens of soldiers swarmed over the site. Injured were still being evacuated at least two hours later. Villagers displayed blackened pieces of wreckage to arriving reporters.
The Army helicopter that was shot down was equipped with a standard package of defensive equipment, including a missile alert system and flares designed to decoy a missile, a U.S. officer said Wednesday.
An Illinois senator, whose state National Guard had provided the helicopter, had written to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld asking whether the helicopter had been properly equipped.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin wrote of his concern that the CH-47D Chinook helicopter “may not have had necessary or fully complete aircraft survivability equipment,” including seat armor to protect against shrapnel.
Army Colonel William Darley, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said on Wednesday that the helicopter had an ALQ-156 defensive system, including a flare dispenser, that is standard equipment on all Chinooks, whether active duty or National Guard.
Pentagon officials said that as far as could be determined, all transport helicopters in Iraq have the standard package of defensive systems. That equipment is not foolproof, however, especially in cases where the helicopter is flying at very low altitudes, allowing little reaction time.
“This was a new lesson from the resistance, a lesson to the greedy aggressors,” said one Iraqi in nearby Fallujah, who wouldn’t give his name. “They’ll never be safe until they get out of our country,” he said of the Americans.
Others were celebrating word of the helicopter downing and also a fresh attack on U.S. soldiers in Fallujah itself, where witnesses said an explosion struck one vehicle in a U.S. Army convoy at about 9 a.m. Sunday. They claimed four soldiers died, but U.S. military sources said they couldn’t confirm the report.
The presence of the portable anti-aircraft missiles has represented a significant threat for military aircraft and raised concerns over the security of the few commercial flights in and out of Baghdad International Airport. The U.S.-led coalition has offered rewards of $500 a piece to Iraqis who turn in the weapons.
As of Sunday night, this Chinook was the third helicopter known to have been brought down by Iraq’s insurgents since President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on 1 May 2003. The 15 soldiers killed in the crash on Sunday, plus 1 other death in a separate attack and two U.S. civilians working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers killed in Fallujah by a roadside bomb, brings to 139 the number of U.S. military personnel who were combat fatalities since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities, and 377 since the start of military operations in Iraq, according to the latest Department of Defense figures. Since the start of military operations, 1,811 U.S. service members have been injured as a result of hostile action, according to U.S. Central Command. Non-hostile injured numbered 338.
Five of those on board were helicopter crew members assigned to the Army’s 12th Aviation Brigade, flying in support of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, officials said. The other soldiers were believed to be stationed at Camp Ridgeway, the western Iraq headquarters for the 82nd Airborne.
Four of those injured were members of an Iowa Army National Guard unit based in Davenport, National Guard spokesman Colonel Robert King said. Names were not immediately available for the guardsmen, who were part of the helicopter’s crew and are members of Detachment 1, Company F, 106th Aviation, King said. He added that he had mixed reports on the soldiers’ medical conditions and would not release those details. The helicopter shot down near Fallujah was part of a Peoria, Illinois, based unit that serves as headquarters for Company F, he said.
Fort Carson, Colorado, officials confirmed at least some of their own were injured in the crash but would not give an exact number or confirm whether any from the post were among the 15 dead until all the relatives had been notified, said Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Budzyna.
A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter crash-landed on 25 October in Tikrit after being hit by an unknown weapon, injuring one crewmember. On 12 June, a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter was shot down by hostile fire in the western desert, and two crewmembers were rescued unhurt.
The Pentagon had announced Friday it was expanding the home leave program for troops in Iraq, to fly more soldiers out of the region each day and take them to more U.S. airports. As of Sunday, it said, the number of soldiers departing daily via a transit facility in neighboring Kuwait would be increased to 480 from 280.
The workhorse, 10-ton Chinook, which has a crew of four, is the military’s most versatile heavy-lift helicopter, used primarily for troop movements, transporting artillery, and similar functions.
The downing of the Chinook came after what U.S. occupation chief L. Paul Bremer on Saturday called “a tough week” in Iraq, beginning with an insurgent rocket attack on Sunday against a Baghdad hotel housing hundreds of his Coalition Provisional Authority staff members. One was killed and 15 wounded in that attack.
A day later, four coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad killed three dozen people and wounded more than 200, and that was followed by widespread rumors and leaflets threatening an escalation in the anti-U.S. resistance. Attacks against U.S. forces had already stepped up in the previous week to an average of 33 a day.
Since its development over 40 years ago, several CH-47 Chinook helicopters have been shot down by SA-7 missiles. A total of five CH-47A helicopters owned and operated by the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), previously the property of the U.S. Army, were lost during the conflict due to SA-7 missile attacks. Numerous airframes have been lost due to Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and mortar fire. Prior to Sunday’s attack, the most recent downing of a Chinook was when an MH-47E helicopter was lost in the “War on Terrorism” in Afghanistan.
From e-mails with Anthony D’Agostino’s mother, Debra Smith. Used with permission.
“My son, Anthony, was my firstborn and grew up to serve our country. Was it a path I wanted for him? I can honestly say no. The day he left the recruiting office on East Main Street in Waterbury, I had a terrible feeling! However, as a Mom of a young man, not a little boy, I had to let him go. I didn’t say anything, but I wish I did!! This memory is still in my thoughts 21 years later. Could I have stopped him? Probably not; however, am I proud he served? YES!! Years have passed, and thoughts of his life pass through my head if he survived. Would he be married, would he have children, would he be successful as an electrician, would he be the same young man that he was before he became a soldier? So many come back from war, and they are not the same because of what they went through. I don’t know, and maybe that’s a good thing. In the end, he did what he thought was what he needed to do, and I support that 100 percent. I believe in God, and he has a path we all follow in life, and Anthony followed his path. My path is to be there for my daughter, Lisa, her husband, Alvin, and my granddaughter, Joy. We remember Anthony in our hearts each day, each Memorial Day, each Veterans Day, each holiday that he’s not with us.”
Honored on the City of Waterbury (CT) Global War On Terrorism Memorial
Private First Class D’Agostino is buried in Calvary Cemetery, 2324 East Main Street, Waterbury, Connecticut; Section 49, Lot 6, Grave 8. The coin in the top left corner of the footstone says, “To Thine Own Self Be True; Unity, Service, Recovery.”
