Killed in Action

Chief Warrant Officer Hershel McCants Jr. comes home to Arlington National Cemetery.

McCants, 33, an Oregon native, was on a transport mission, co-piloting a twin-rotor Chinook helicopter Feb. 18, when the aircraft went down in southeastern Afghanistan. Five Night Stalkers, including McCants, and three other special operations personnel were killed in the crash, which military officials have blamed on the aircraft's "sudden, unexplained" loss of power

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Scott Nowicki, who served with McCants in an Army medical unit at Fort Lewis, Wash., ...[praised]... McCants's skill and professionalism as a pilot during training missions and rescue operations.... "Dan was rock steady and the aircraft hovered as if it were sitting on solid ground," Nowicki wrote, hailing McCants as "a true Special Operations quality pilot."

Godspeed.