Darryl Demetrial Booker - Staff Sergeant, United States Army

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 081-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2007

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of 12 soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died in Baghdad, Iraq, on January 20, 2007, when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter they were in crashed.

Killed were:

Colonel Brian D. Allgood, 46, of Oklahoma, who was assigned to the 30th Medical Brigade, European Regional Medical Command, Heidelberg, Germany.

Staff Sergeant Darryl D. Booker, 37, of Midlothian, Virginia, who was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, Virginia Army National Guard, Sandston, Virginia.

Sergeant First Class John G. Brown, 43, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

Lieutenant Colonel David C. Canegata, 50, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, who was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Command Sergeant Major Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, Iowa, who was assigned to Joint Forces Headquarters, Iowa Army National Guard, Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa.

Command Sergeant Major Roger W. Haller, 49, of Davidsonville, Maryland, who was assigned to the 70th Regiment, Regional Training Institute – Maryland, Maryland Army National Guard, Reisterstown, Maryland.

Colonal Paul M. Kelly, 45, of Stafford, Virginia, who was assigned to the Joint Force Headquarters of the Virginia Army National Guard in Blackstone, Virginia.

Staff Sergeant Floyd E. Lake, 43, of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, who was assigned to the Virgin Islands Army National Guard, Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Corporal Victor M. Langarica, 29, of Decatur, Georgia, who was assigned to the 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Captain Sean E. Lyerly, 31, of Pflugerville, Texas., who was assigned to the Texas Army National Guard's 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, 36th Infantry Division, Austin, Texas.

Major Michael V. Taylor, 40, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, who was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

First Sergeant William T. Warren, 48, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, who was assigned to the Arkansas Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment (Air Assault), 77th Aviation Brigade, Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

The incident is under investigation.

Richmond man's death in Iraq leaves five fatherless
January 23, 2007

Daryl Booker called his father in Surry County just before Christmas last year and told him not to worry.

Booker, an Army National Guardsman who grew up in Richmond, had been in Iraq since October.

He'd survived a couple close calls, Earnest Hardy Sr. said.

“I figured if he was there in harm's way and was telling me not to worry, then I probably shouldn't,” Hardy said. But “You can't help but to worry.”

Booker, a 38-year-old father of five, was one of 12 troops killed Saturday when the Black Hawk helicopter they were flying in crashed just outside of Baghdad.

While military officials have said the crash is still under investigation, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday that Iraqi sources said it had been shot down.

A witness claimed to have seen the ground fire that brought down the helicopter, and an insurgent group claimed responsibility via the Internet.

Soldiers notified Booker's mother, who lives in Richmond, on Saturday, Hardy said.

“She tried calling me seven times. When I called her back, all she could say was, ‘We lost Daryl.' ”

Troops from Fort Eustis notified Hardy officially of his son's death on Monday. He then had the grim task of spreading the news among the dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles living in Smithfield and Surry County.

Booker joined the Army when he turned 18. After several years on active duty, Hardy said, Booker became a member of the Virginia National Guard and was attached to a unit near Richmond. “In the last five or six years, he went on a bunch of tours,” Hardy said. “He was a member of a peace-keeping force.”

Booker was proud to be a soldier, Hardy said.

“He made a choice and made the best of his choice.”

Booker is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Funeral services will be held in Richmond.

Fallen soldier's mother: ‘Darryl's going to be OK'
Nearly 1,000 turn out to mourn sergeant who died in helicopter crash in Iraq
BY PETER BACQUE
COURTESY OF THE RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
January 31, 2007

Nearly 1,000 family members, friends, military comrades and church members gave thanks yesterday for Staff Sgt. Darryl D. Booker's life.

“I didn't know the impact he had made on so many people,” Booker's mother, Maria Loney, said after the memorial service at Mount Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries in Chesterfield County.

A soldier in the Virginia Army National Guard, the 37-year-old Booker was killed January 20, 2007, in a helicopter crash in Iraq.

“You know, we hurt, we hurt,” his mother said. “We're going to miss him, but we know that Darryl's going to be OK.”

Major General Robert B. Newman Jr., the Virginia National Guard's Adjutant General, offered “our deepest sympathy and our deepest respect” to the fallen soldier's family.

In the sanctuary lobby, Booker's military decorations, including the Bronze Star, were displayed next to the condolence books.

Outside the church, a large American flag suspended between the raised ladders of two Chesterfield County Fire and Emergency Medical Services firetrucks.

Booker's wife, Jeanne Booker, said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of kindness from members of the public she didn't know.

And when she saw the flag arch at the church, she said she was so moved “that made me a little weaker, but I had to be strong for my children. That was just so awesome.”

Booker left a daughter, Derica Booker of Arlington, Texas, and four stepchildren.

A Manchester High School graduate, Booker was a military air-traffic controller. In his civilian life, he was a full-time employee of the National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility at Sandston.

Booker joined the Virginia Army Guard in September 1987. He had served in Iraq and Bosnia before his latest deployment to the Middle East.

He was among 12 soldiers who died when the UH-60 Black Hawk in which they were flying went down northeast of Baghdad, military officials said.

“He gave his life fighting for something he believed in,” Minister Kenneth Mitchell, the church's assistant pastor, said in his eulogy. “We have to come to gether as a nation to support those who fight for us.”

Booker, of Midlothian, came from a military family, with cousins in the uniforms of the Army, Navy and Air Force attending the memorial.

Donnell McLean of Midlothian was in the church's men's ministry with Booker. “He was a wonderful man,” McLean recalled, “compassionate, very sincere.”

Letters of condolence for Booker's death came from as far as the Surry County Board of Supervisors to the chief of staff of the U.S. Army.

“He was always giving and never taking,” said Lieutenant Colonel Robert Tamplett, who served in the Guard with Booker. “He was a gift to us from God.”

Another Virginia Army National Guard soldier, Colonel Paul M. Kelly, 45, of Stafford County, also died in the crash that killed Booker.

Booker will be buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on Friday.

In an e-mail to a church elder two days before he died, Booker wrote from Iraq that, “God wants me to increase my faith. . . . I have so many people depending on me that I can't afford to fail.”

Interment ceremony set for 12 killed in crash
4 October 2007

Twelve soldiers who were killed on January 20, 2007, when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Baghdad will be honored during a group interment at Arlington National Cemetery.

The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. October 12, 2007.

The soldiers, who belonged to a number of active Army and Army National Guard units, are: Colonel Brian D. Allgood, 46, of Okla. Colonel Paul M. Kelly, 45, of Stafford, Virginia, Lieuetnant Colonel David C. Canegata III, 50, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Captain Michael V. Taylor, 40, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, Captain Sean E. Lyerly, 31, of Pflugerville, Texas, Command Sergeant Major Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, Iowa, Command Sergeant Major Roger W. Haller, 49, of Davidsonville, Maryland, First Sergeant William T. Warren, 48, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, Sergeant First Class Floyd E. Lake Sr., 43, of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Sergeant First Class Class John G. Brown, 43, of Little Rock, Arkansas, Staff Sergeant Darryl D. Booker, 37, of Midlothian, Virginia, and Corporal Victor M. Langarica, 29, of Decatur, Georgia.

After the ceremony, Lieutenant General Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard, will host a reception for all 12 families at the Army Guard's Readiness Center in Arlington, Virginia.

BOOKER, DARRYL DEMETRIAL

SSG US ARMY
DATE OF BIRTH: 05/20/1969
DATE OF DEATH: 01/20/2007
BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 8530
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard

Darryl Demetrial Booker – Staff Sergeant, United States Army

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