thedrifter
01-07-09, 09:16 AM
Marine pilot remembered at memorial service
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January 6, 2009 - 9:00 PM
Sue Book
Sun Journal
CHERRY POINT - The family and nearly 400 friends and colleagues of a Marine pilot celebrated his life at a memorial service Tuesday in the Marine Chapel. The pilot died when his AV-8 Harrier crashed last week.
Row on row of Marines with close-cropped heads bowed filled the chapel for the 3 p.m. service for Capt. Alberto Noel Bencosme.
His mother, girlfriend, sister, two brothers, and other family members dressed in black and a Marine cousin in dress blues were escorted to the front rows of the chapel. They faced an altar with a table of pictures in front and Bencosme's flight vest, helmet and boots displayed as a dressed cross. At the close of the 45 minute service, they stood at the altar and wept.
Bencosme, 28, was flying a routine training mission on Dec. 29 when his plane signaled a warning for the canopy latches. He reversed his course, headed back toward Cherry Point, and was almost home when the plane crashed about 12:30 p.m. in a wooded area about a mile from the southeast edge of the base.
The flight may have been routine but his fellow Marines said he was far from that.
His flight name was "Xerxes" as he flew for Marine Attack Training Squadron VMAT-203, and the squadron commander, Lt. Col. Harold Blot Jr., called him a "competent and capable" pilot who was "proud of his life. To say Xerxes was passionate is an understatement. He had achieved success in a way few experience it; he had achieved his dream."
His roommate and fellow pilot, Capt. Mike Wyrsch, described Bencosme as "the kindest and most selfless" man he had ever known, always seeing to the needs of others ahead of his own.
From simple things like cooking and cleaning to things requiring commitment and determination like learning to fly or play golf, Wyrsch said. Bencosme "never gave anything short of his best."
Wyrsch said Bencosme's girlfriend called him a "perfectionist" and "Al was a perfect Marine."
He was "most passionate about a dream he had pursued his whole life, flying," Wyrsch said. He began with a Cessna 172 as a private pilot, then became a professional Marine pilot and achieved his dream of landing on the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower in August 2007.
Friend and fellow pilot Capt. Christopher Schreiner said Bencosme was a first-generation American, born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, who took his duty to country seriously. It inspired him to feelings that with conviction, all things could be accomplished.
"He was good natured, not superficial, raised well," Schreiner said. He had a "humble demeanor, warm spirit and keen mind" and "he did everything in his power to get short."
Bencosme was about a half inch too tall for Marine flight and Schreiner said the trained actively with weights to get short enough to be accepted into flight training.
He had enlisted in the Marine Corps and reported to Parris Island in November 1997 and went on to attend the Automotive Organization Maintenance Course before reporting to the 8th Tank Battalion in July 1998. Bencosme was accepted into the Marine Elisted Commissioning Program and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in November 2004 after receiving a degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle University.
He was selected for Marine aviator training in June 2005 and reported to Naval Air Tactical Command in Pensacola, Fla., and was designated a naval aviator in August 2007. He then reported to VMAT-203 at Cherry Point and successfully completed the training in September. He was promoted to captain while with the "Hawks" Marine Attack Training Squadron in December.
A Cherry Point cleanup crew in four vehicles was still working on Tuesday at the crash site on Weyerhaeuser land about four miles from the main gate on the right side of N.C. 101.
A Bobcat rolled over the muddy logging road with barrels of potentially toxic debris and personnel in Cherry Point Forestry vehicles supervised the site that last week was crowded with military vehicles guarded by military police.
Marine spokesmen say evidence from the crash is being studied and it could take as long as a year to determine the cause.
Wyrsch said, "Al's going to be flying on my wing, bringing me safely every time. That's the kind of guy Al was."
Ellie
Comments 0 | Recommend 4
January 6, 2009 - 9:00 PM
Sue Book
Sun Journal
CHERRY POINT - The family and nearly 400 friends and colleagues of a Marine pilot celebrated his life at a memorial service Tuesday in the Marine Chapel. The pilot died when his AV-8 Harrier crashed last week.
Row on row of Marines with close-cropped heads bowed filled the chapel for the 3 p.m. service for Capt. Alberto Noel Bencosme.
His mother, girlfriend, sister, two brothers, and other family members dressed in black and a Marine cousin in dress blues were escorted to the front rows of the chapel. They faced an altar with a table of pictures in front and Bencosme's flight vest, helmet and boots displayed as a dressed cross. At the close of the 45 minute service, they stood at the altar and wept.
Bencosme, 28, was flying a routine training mission on Dec. 29 when his plane signaled a warning for the canopy latches. He reversed his course, headed back toward Cherry Point, and was almost home when the plane crashed about 12:30 p.m. in a wooded area about a mile from the southeast edge of the base.
The flight may have been routine but his fellow Marines said he was far from that.
His flight name was "Xerxes" as he flew for Marine Attack Training Squadron VMAT-203, and the squadron commander, Lt. Col. Harold Blot Jr., called him a "competent and capable" pilot who was "proud of his life. To say Xerxes was passionate is an understatement. He had achieved success in a way few experience it; he had achieved his dream."
His roommate and fellow pilot, Capt. Mike Wyrsch, described Bencosme as "the kindest and most selfless" man he had ever known, always seeing to the needs of others ahead of his own.
From simple things like cooking and cleaning to things requiring commitment and determination like learning to fly or play golf, Wyrsch said. Bencosme "never gave anything short of his best."
Wyrsch said Bencosme's girlfriend called him a "perfectionist" and "Al was a perfect Marine."
He was "most passionate about a dream he had pursued his whole life, flying," Wyrsch said. He began with a Cessna 172 as a private pilot, then became a professional Marine pilot and achieved his dream of landing on the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower in August 2007.
Friend and fellow pilot Capt. Christopher Schreiner said Bencosme was a first-generation American, born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, who took his duty to country seriously. It inspired him to feelings that with conviction, all things could be accomplished.
"He was good natured, not superficial, raised well," Schreiner said. He had a "humble demeanor, warm spirit and keen mind" and "he did everything in his power to get short."
Bencosme was about a half inch too tall for Marine flight and Schreiner said the trained actively with weights to get short enough to be accepted into flight training.
He had enlisted in the Marine Corps and reported to Parris Island in November 1997 and went on to attend the Automotive Organization Maintenance Course before reporting to the 8th Tank Battalion in July 1998. Bencosme was accepted into the Marine Elisted Commissioning Program and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in November 2004 after receiving a degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle University.
He was selected for Marine aviator training in June 2005 and reported to Naval Air Tactical Command in Pensacola, Fla., and was designated a naval aviator in August 2007. He then reported to VMAT-203 at Cherry Point and successfully completed the training in September. He was promoted to captain while with the "Hawks" Marine Attack Training Squadron in December.
A Cherry Point cleanup crew in four vehicles was still working on Tuesday at the crash site on Weyerhaeuser land about four miles from the main gate on the right side of N.C. 101.
A Bobcat rolled over the muddy logging road with barrels of potentially toxic debris and personnel in Cherry Point Forestry vehicles supervised the site that last week was crowded with military vehicles guarded by military police.
Marine spokesmen say evidence from the crash is being studied and it could take as long as a year to determine the cause.
Wyrsch said, "Al's going to be flying on my wing, bringing me safely every time. That's the kind of guy Al was."
Ellie