A 21-year-old airman who served at Camp Darby in northern Italy was honored Friday during a memorial service held two weeks after he was killed.
Airman 1st Class Chad Ellis was walking toward the base along a dark roadway in the popular Tirrenia area about 3 a.m. on Sept. 2 when he was struck and killed by a passing vehicle driven by an Italian civilian, said Antonio Vicente, deputy garrison commander at the base.
“[Ellis] was a great person, a great soldier, very hard-working and loved by his superiors, friends and colleagues,” Vicente said Monday in a telephone interview.
Tirrenia features shopping, entertainment and beaches and is a roughly 10-minute drive from the base.
No charges have been filed in the incident, which is under investigation, Vicente said.
Ellis joined the Air Force in 2004 and had been stationed at Camp Darby as a munitions systems specialist for close to a year, Vicente said.
“He was getting ready to go home just this month,” he said. Ellis was from Somerset, Ky.
Details of Ellis’ death were provided to the media for the first time Monday following calls seeking information.
