Olivia Snow, the three-year-old daughter of Chief Warrant Officer David Snow, hands a tissue to Brandi Norman, widow of Capt. Kevin M. Norman. The Snow and Norman families attended the dedication of a memorial to Kevin Norman and David Snow, killed one year ago today in a plane crash south of Seoul. (Joe Giordono / S&S)
Olivia Snow, the three-year-old daughter of Chief Warrant Officer David Snow, hands a tissue to Brandi Norman, widow of Capt. Kevin M. Norman. The Snow and Norman families attended the dedication of a memorial to Kevin Norman and David Snow, killed one year ago today in a plane crash south of Seoul. (Joe Giordono / S&S)
The Norman and Snow families fight back tears during the dedication of a memorial to Capt. Kevin Norman and Chief Warrant Officer David Snow, killed one year ago Thursday in a plane crash south of Seoul. (Joe Giordono / S&S)
Members of the 6th Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, salute during the dedication of a memorial to two pilots killed last year in a plane crash. (Joe Giordono / S&S)
K-16 AIR BASE, South Korea — A year’s time has done little to blunt the pain.
Twelve months to the day from when Capt. Kevin M. Norman and Chief Warrant Officer David W. Snow died in a plane crash south of Seoul, their families and former comrades tearfully dedicated a black stone memorial in their honor Thursday at this Army airfield.
On a 96-degree day with stifling humidity, members of the 6th Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment stood in formation outside their hangar as unit leaders said a final goodbye to the pair.
While the names Snow and Norman were inscribed on the memorial, said battalion commander Lt. Col. Fred Manzo Jr., it also “provides a reminder that the duty we perform, while noble and necessary, is at the same time a dangerous and risky business.”
In his remarks, Col. David Abramowitz, 17th Aviation Brigade commander, recalled how he had been in command for just six weeks before the accident happened. But, he said, both Snow and Norman already had made strong impressions.
As one of his company commanders, Norman was the kind of officer to whom Abramowitz would entrust his own son, now a cadet at West Point. Abramowitz recalled the jokes the two would share.
While he perhaps saw Snow just three times, Abramowitz said, he constantly was hearing “Dave Snow says this, or Dave Snow says that,” when he would ask questions about flight operations. Almost every member of the unit, Abramowitz said, had come to rely on Snow as a repository of knowledge.
“He showed our officers what right looks like,” Abramowitz said.
While military officials would not release the conclusions of an accident investigation report compiled by the Army Safety Center, unit officials have said the report concludes there is a high probability that Norman and Snow had enough control of the aircraft in its final moments to steer it away from a populated area near the eventual crash site.
Though the mood through most of the ceremony was upbeat, the emotions finally welled over with the singing of “Amazing Grace.” Staff Sgt. Mathelda Warren, from the 249th Military Police Detachment, was singing solo when, halfway through the song, she broke into tears.
Trying to compose herself, and apologizing for her tears, she tried to continue. Abramowitz came to the podium, steadied Warren with an arm around her shoulder and helped her finish singing.
At the same time, Brandi Norman and Amy Snow wiped tears from behind sunglass-covered eyes. Olivia, Snow’s 3-year-old daughter, calmly crawled down from her own mother’s lap and handed Brandi Norman a tissue.
