Subscribe
Sgt. Brian Peter Sawyer, 33, an Army helicopter repairman, died Monday of injuries he had sustained at his home Feb. 3 at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the Army said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019.

Sgt. Brian Peter Sawyer, 33, an Army helicopter repairman, died Monday of injuries he had sustained at his home Feb. 3 at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the Army said Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (U.S. Army)

An Army helicopter repairman died Monday of injuries he sustained a week earlier at his home at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the Army said.

Sgt. Brian Peter Sawyer, 33, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Wainwright, died at Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., where he had been transferred because of the severity of his injuries, the Army said in a statement Tuesday.

He was injured at his on-base residence on Feb. 3 and initially treated at Bassett Army Community Hospital on Fort Wainwright, the statement said.

The Army did not release details on the nature of the injuries. The cause of death is under investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the statement said.

“The Flying Dragon family grieves together today at the loss of one of our own,” Lt. Col. Jorge Rosario, 1-52nd Aviation commander, said in the statement.

Sawyer was originally from New Port Richey, Fla., and joined the Army in September 2010. He served at Fort Jackson, S.C.; Fort Eustis, Va.; Katterbach Army Airfield, Ansbach, Germany; and Hunter Army Airfield, Ga. He arrived at Fort Wainwright in November 2016.

He deployed to Afghanistan from May through September 2012 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

olson.wyatt@stripes.com Twitter: @WyattWOlson

author picture
Wyatt Olson is based in the Honolulu bureau, where he has reported on military and security issues in the Indo-Pacific since 2014. He was Stars and Stripes’ roving Pacific reporter from 2011-2013 while based in Tokyo. He was a freelance writer and journalism teacher in China from 2006-2009.

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