Easy 40 and Easy 71 had just landed at Camp Taji north of Baghdad to refuel and to drop off and pick up passengers. These two Black Hawk helicopters were moving troops around Baghdad-area bases on Jan. 20, 2007. As they took off, Easy 40 had a four-man crew and eight passengers, soldiers with little in common aside from needing a lift to the airport. Within minutes, Easy 40 began to take incoming fire from the ground. U.S. Army Spc. David Carnahan, the crew chief aboard Easy 71, looked back to see a rocket-propelled grenade hit Easy 40’s fuel cell, setting it afire. Easy 40 crashed hard, the passenger compartment engulfed in flames.

Easy 71 landed immediately, but not fast enough for Carnahan: He jumped from the helicopter 20 feet off the ground, armed with only his pistol and a fire extinguisher. Despite coming under fire himself, he and others rushed to rescue the 12 soldiers from Easy 40. But all 12 had perished. Carnahan and his crew defended the crash site as other helicopters arrived on scene and engaged the enemy forces. “The first thing that comes to mind when a helicopter goes down is Black Hawk Down, and what they did to the bodies, and we weren’t going to let that happen,” Carnahan said. On that day, he earned the Air Medal for Valor, as did several soldiers, with others earning the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross.