Not one seat was available out of the 1,500 at the Riverfront Convention Center in Alexandria for the funeral service honoring Chief Warrant Officer George David Strother.

Chief Strother was among the four member aviation crew who lost their lives along with seven Marines on March 10th. Their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a night time national guard training exercise.

“We’ve experienced a great loss. The military service makes people a family, even more so in the National Guard, even more than that in aviation.” said LT. COL John Bonnette.

LT. COL John Bonnette was Chief Strother’s battalion commander and they served together in Iraq. LT. COL Bonnette says Strother was one of the first men he met overseas, a day he will never forget. “In the moment I met him, in a matter of seconds, I knew here’s a guy, if you needed he would give the shirt off his back .”　

Chief Strother served multiple deployments over seas. He was a part of rescue missions during Hurricane Katrina as well as while serving in KOSOVO. Strother served over twenty years in the military. He will be remembered for his larger than life personality.

“Let me tell you something, Dave Strother is a 12-year-old boy in a 44 year old man’s body that’s what he is. Dave could get away with things that no on else can because he just had that innocent boyish way.” said COL Patrick Bossetta.

COL. Patrick Bossetta says when tragedy happens, the military does not retreat quietly into the night, but rather they learn from their mistakes and always find a way to move forward. “We have a moral, and ethical, and fiduciary obligation to that crew and those seven marines to ensure we get better.”

　

Following the service a procession led Chief Strother to a sunset interment at the Alexandria Memorial Gardens.