Kanimbla chopper victim finally laid to rest (SAS Trooper is buried - with help from US Navy)

The Australian ^ | 23rd March 2007 | James Madden

[naturalman1975]

THOSE who knew Joshua Porter say he was a loving husband, son and brother.

Those same people said he would also have been a wonderful father, but tragically his unborn child will never get the chance to know him.

Almost four months after Trooper Porter was killed when the Black Hawk helicopter in which he was flying plunged to the bottom of the Pacific, hundreds of mourners - including his widow, Carinna, who is pregnant with the couple's first child - gathered yesterday to farewell him in his home town of Toukley on the NSW central coast.

Trooper Porter, 28, and Captain Mark Bingley were killed when the army Black Hawk crashed into the sea off Fiji on November 29 last year, after clipping HMAS Kanimbla while attempting to land.

Captain Bingley was pulled from the sea before the Black Hawk sank, but his life could not be saved.

Trooper Porter remained trapped in the wreckage of the chopper and his body was only recovered this month when a US navy remotely operated vehicle retrieved his remains and the sunken helicopter from a depth of 3000m.

Trooper Porter's family yesterday joined his SAS comrades and senior military personnel at his funeral at St Mary's Catholic Church in Toukley.

Members of the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment formed an honour guard as his coffin left the church.

The honour guard fired three volleys, while a bugler played the Last Post.

[Patriot Hooligan]

"I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. In my mind, we came here to thank God that men like these have lived rather than to regret that they have died."
General George S. Patton

[ARE SOLE]

Hand salute for the SAS man.



Regards.