Braxton Taylor
Two of the three soldiers who were killed Wednesday when their Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airline have been identified by service and public officials, but the Army on Friday withheld the name of the third service member amid online speculation of the identity.
Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and Staff Sgt. Ryan O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, were both identified by the governors of their home states.
The name of the third soldier, a captain, killed in the crash will not be released by the Army at the request of the family, a service official familiar with the matter told Military.com on Friday. All three were with Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
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“Mississippi is mourning the loss of Brooksville native Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, who was killed in last night’s accident at Reagan National Airport,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves posted on X, adding that he and his wife “are praying for the victims’ families and first responders who are assisting.”
O’Hara graduated from Parkview High School in Georgia and was involved in the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, according to local news reports.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own,” a now-inaccessible social media post from the Marine Corps JROTC program said, according to NBC affiliate WYFF 4. “Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan O’Hara was the crew chief on the Black Hawk involved in last night’s crash in D.C.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also offered a message to O’Hara’s family on social media.
“We send our deepest condolences to the families and friends of Ryan O’Hara,” Kemp said on X. “This terrible tragedy is that much more difficult knowing their lives were cut so unexpectedly short.”
On Friday afternoon, the Department of Defense released information on O’Hara and Eaves.
Eaves and the unnamed captain were both identified as “duty status-whereabouts unknown.” O’Hara was “deceased pending positive identification,” per the Pentagon. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the bodies of all three soldiers had been recovered, and it wasn’t immediately clear why some of the deceased were identified as whereabouts unknown.
Eaves served in the Navy from August 2007 to September 2017, then transitioned to being a UH-60 pilot for the Army, where he served until his death, the Department of Defense statement said.
O’Hara was a UH-60 repairer starting in 2014. He deployed to Afghanistan for six months in 2017.
Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff of the Army’s Aviation Directorate and a retired chief warrant 5, told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the instructor pilot was overseeing an aviator undergoing a mandatory training evaluation; they had approximately 1,500 combined flight hours. The whole crew was very familiar with the flight path.
The Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 around 9 p.m. Wednesday evening. The plane was traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport with 60 passengers and four crew members on board. D.C. officials said Thursday that there were no survivors.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump made unfounded claims Thursday morning that diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, practices were, in part, somehow to blame for the tragedy.
“We will have the best and brightest in every position possible,” Hegseth said during a White House briefing Thursday. “Whether it’s flying Black Hawks and flying airplanes, leading platoons or in government. The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it’s in our air traffic control or whether it’s in our generals, or whether it’s throughout the government.”
Unfounded online rumors and conspiracy theories emerged about who the third crew member of the Black Hawk helicopter was and incorrectly named Jo Ellis, a transgender pilot and chief warrant officer 2 who is a member of the Virginia National Guard.
“There were no Virginia National Guard personnel on board the Black Hawk that collided with the jetliner Wednesday evening,” a Guard spokesperson told Military.com. Ellis is still serving with the Virginia National Guard.
Ellis released a video on Facebook as a proof of life on Friday and to dispel the false narratives and rumors.
“I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C., and that is false,” Ellis said. “It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this. And I hope that you all know that I’m alive and well, and this should be sufficient for you all to end all the rumors.”
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