Bryan Andrew Zemek, Derek Joshua Abbott Obituary – he two Mississippi National Guardsmen who perished in a helicopter crash on Friday have been identified by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan Andrew Zemek, 36, and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Derek Joshua Abbott, 42, were named in a statement released on social media.
Zemek was an AH-64 Delta Apache standardization instructor pilot in Alpha Company 1st Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, while Abbott served as a maintenance test pilot in Delta Company of the 2nd Battalion, 151st Lakota Medical Evacuation Unit. The fatal crash occurred during a routine training flight in an AH-64 Apache helicopter in a wooded area near Booneville, Mississippi, around 2 p.m. local time on Friday.
Governor Reeves expressed his deepest condolences to the families and friends of the deceased soldiers, emphasizing their honorable service and the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces. The crash is under investigation by safety crews and local authorities, as confirmed by the Mississippi National Guard in a news release. Booneville is situated in the northeast corner of the state, close to the borders of Alabama and Tennessee.