A pilot from Connecticut was among the seven people killed when two military helicopters collided during a training exercise in Arizona this week, the Marine Corps announced Friday.
Maj. Thomas A. Budrejko, 37, of Montville, Conn., a Cobra helicopter pilot and executive officer of the Marine Light Attack Squadron 469 based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., was killed in the crash on a remote section of the Yuma Training Range Complex.
Gail Budrejko, of Newington, Conn., said her nephew and godson grew up in Montville and graduated from Montville High School before going to the Naval Academy and starting a career as a Marine aviator.
“He was funny. He was successful. He was a Renaissance man,” Gail Budrejko said, “but most of all he was kind. He was such a kind person, and really wanted to make a difference — not just in the wider world, but person to person.”
“I think the world was a better place because Tommy was in it,” she said.
A biography on his squadron’s website says Budrejko graduated at Annapolis in 1996 and had a master’s degree from the Marine Corps’ Command and Staff College. He served in Kosovo, did three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and had been awarded the Air Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. His aunt said he was preparing for another deployment to Afghanistan.
His father, Donald Budrejko, a former Navy pilot, told the Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin that his son died doing what he loved. “He loved flying and he loved the Marine Corps,” he told the newspaper. Budrejko leaves a wife and son, his parents and three siblings. Donald Budrejko told the Bulletin that his son will be buried in a family plot in New Britain. He didn’t return messages Friday evening from The Associated Press.
The Marine Corps said earlier that two of those who died were aboard a AH-1W Cobra and the rest were in a UH-1 Huey utility helicopter. They were flying in a remote section of the 1.2-million-acre desert installation as part of a two-week standard training called “Scorpion Fire” that involved a squadron of about 450 troops from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
Officials said it could take weeks to determine what caused the midair crash in mild weather with clear skies. The area is near the Chocolate Mountains on the California-Arizona border and is favored for U.S. military training because its conditions are similar to Afghanistan.
“It is a terrible day when we lose a man who was so committed to serving his country, and we stand with his family and friends in grieving his loss,” Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement Friday. He said flags will be lowered to half-staff on the day of Budrejko’s burial.