Ceremonies honor the fallen airmen of the 106th Rescue Wing
Mourners gathered at various locations Thursday to honor three airmen from Long Island’s 106th Rescue Wing who died when their Pave Hawk helicopter went down two weeks ago in Iraq, near the Syrian border.
Tech. Sgt. Dashan J. Briggs
On a windswept field at Calverton National Cemetery, before ranks of white tombstones that ran to the horizon, an Air Force officer knelt before a 2-year-old boy and placed a folded flag in his tiny hands. He offered the child a solemn salute as the child’s mother choked back tears.
Mourners came to Calverton to bury Briggs, the boy’s father, one of four New York Air National Guardsmen who perished in the March 15 crash, which left a total of seven American military personnel dead.
Maj. Patrick McCarty, the 106th’s chaplain, eulogized Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station, as an airman who embraced the unit’s principal mission: rescuing soldiers and civilians from extreme danger, in combat and in peacetime.
“He lived by the motto we stand by, ‘That others may live,’ ” McCarty said as Briggs’ family looked on, including his wife, Rebecca; son, Jayden; and daughter, Ava, 1.
A pair of A-10 “Warthog” jets — aircraft that frequently fly cover for rescue teams in war zones — streaked overhead.
An hour earlier, at a funeral held in the Westhampton Beach firehouse, Briggs’ grandfather, Eli Briggs, delivered a eulogy that drew both laughter and sobs.
An honor guard bears the coffin of Tech. Sgt. Dashan J. Briggs as airmen stand at attention for the Port Jefferson Station resident's funeral Thursday at the Westhampton Beach firehouse. Credit: New York Air National Guard / Staff Sgt. Julio A. Olivencia Jr.
He recalled having raised Briggs from the first months of his life, as well as headstrong confrontations during Briggs’ adulthood that nevertheless convinced each of the deep trust and affection they shared.
Briggs’ squadron leader, Lt. Col. Rodney Lisec, recounted how Briggs had been an ammunition handler when he first came to the 106th, but was so determined to join the rescue fliers that he overcame his fear of water and learned to swim.
After the funeral, a procession bearing Briggs’ coffin wound its way to Calverton Cemetery, detouring past his childhood home in the hardscrabble Riverhead neighborhood.
The procession motored past Riverhead High School, where Briggs once played on an undefeated football team. Students stood along the curb, some holding tiny American flags and many clutching their hands to their hearts.
Firefighters carry the coffin of Capt. Christopher "Tripp" Zanetis in Washington Square Park during Thursday's procession honoring the fallen airman. Credit: Louis Lanzano
Capt. Christopher “Tripp” Zanetis
As Briggs’ funeral was ending, Zanetis was being honored in a celebration-of-life service that was alternately somber and ribald, at his alma mater, New York University in Greenwich Village.
Zanetis, of Long Island City, Queens, had said he did not want a funeral, family members said, preferring that his well-wishers have a party instead.
Attendees described the 37-year-old as a man of many hats. He volunteered at Ground Zero while at NYU, rescued people as a fireman, flew military helicopters with the 106th, sang show tunes with full-throated abandon, became a lawyer and advocated for LGBTQ rights.
Dana Rehnquist, his Stanford Law classmate and granddaughter of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, noted the unusual variety of mourners Thursday.
“He touched us not because he glad-handed or code-switched between being a firefighter, a lawyer, a pilot, a coach, an activist, a diver, a singer, or a friend,” she said. “He touched so many people because he was genuine.”
Zenetis, a gay man who came out of the closet at 15, kept his sexuality hidden officially until after the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was repealed in 2010.
The ceremony choked up many of the friends, relatives and military colleagues who were present. Several wept.
“Here’s a guy that ran into burning buildings so many times,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow NYU alum who attended the ceremony with his wife, Chirlane McCray. “That would have been enough. But he kept returning to the battlefield.”
Master Sgt. Christopher J. Raguso
Later Thursday, hundreds of mourners crowded into the truck bay of the Commack Fire Department for a wake for Raguso, an FDNY lieutenant who also served as a volunteer firefighter in Commack, his hometown.
Outside an LED sign displayed “Rest in Peace Chief Chris Raguso,” and an American flag billowed from a ladder extended from one of the department’s trucks.
Charles Ranft, an Army veteran, serves as color guard as firefighters salute the family of Master Sgt. Christopher J. Raguso at Thursday's wake for the Commack resident at the Commack firehouse. Credit: James Carbone
His Commack fire gear lay neatly folded. A flower arrangement in the shape of a helicopter lay beside his coffin.
“To see the people, the support, the love, it’s overwhelming. It’s a beautiful tribute,” said June Meade of Northport, a friend of Raguso’s parents. She noted not only his willingness to serve in the Air National Guard, but to do multiple tours in Iraq.
“That shows character,” she said. “He gave the ultimate sacrifice so we could be free.”
A second wake for Raguso, 39, is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Friday. His funeral Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Kings Park.
A funeral for the fourth fallen member of the 106th, Capt. Andreas B. O’Keeffe, 37, of Center Moriches, will be held in Tampa, Florida, on April 6 at Incarnation Roman Catholic Church, said his father, Shan O’Keeffe.
With Vera Chinese
