Subscribe
A memorial service for Air Force Staff Sgt. Halex Hale will be held Friday at Aviano Air Base where he was stationed.

A memorial service for Air Force Staff Sgt. Halex Hale will be held Friday at Aviano Air Base where he was stationed. (Courtesy U.S. Air Force)

A memorial service for Staff Sgt. Halex Hale, the airman who was missing for 10 days before his body was found in a river near the Italian town where he lived, will be held Friday at Aviano Air Base, where he was stationed.

The memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the base chapel.

Hale’s body was found Tuesday in the Livenza River near the town of Sacile, where the airman lived and where he went missing after leaving an evening cookout on July 2, Air Force officials said.

Hale was a member of the wing’s communications squadron, the wing said.

Police had searched the area for three days with the help of dogs, divers, helicopters and volunteers, but they called the search off on Sunday.

Hale was last seen leaving a friend’s house after the cookout, apparently to walk to another friend’s house. But he left his cellphone, wallet and keys behind. The AP quoted authorities as saying Hale might have gone swimming in a canal, which runs into the river where his body was found.

Hale, of Middletown, Ind., enlisted in the Air Force six years ago, soon after high school, and had deployed to Afghanistan, his mother said. He arrived at Aviano in February 2015.

news@stripes.com

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now