In August he was picked to be part of the test and evaluation team for the HH-60H helicopter. The team was sent to NAS Fallon, Nevada to explore the aircraft's combat search and rescue capabilities as well as its ability to fire the AGM-114 Hellfire missile against land based threats. Later on in September nearly our entire SH-60F community set out for NAS Fallon. Those of us remaining behind bid farewell with the standard "be careful's" and "see ya' later's".

The morning of the missile shot that Lee was to participate in saw uncooperative weather, and shortly after the brief, the exercise was canceled and the missile was never loaded onto the aircraft. An ordinary day was to soon turn extraordinary. A call came requesting the aircraft assist in the search for a light civilian aircraft lost somewhere in the mountains of Mineral County. Somewhere some one was in trouble, possibly injured and probably in pain. With two experienced pilots in the front and two seasoned rescue crewmen in the back, JA-51 was certainly a capable platform. There was only one option, and that was to accept the mission. The unselfish decision of the crew was indicative of the prime directive of search and rescue, and that is to put your life on the line if you have to so that others may live. The crew was already well briefed and, without hesitation, manned up, strapped on their aircraft, and launched.

As I heard it, the aircraft continued to search at an altitude of approximately nine thousand feet, the weather closed in and trapped the aircraft in a blinding combination of sleet and snow. The co-pilot (at the controls) quickly reversed course to steer out of the whiteness, but the aircraft caught the tip of a ridge and tumbled uncontrollably into the blinding storm. Lee was ejected from the aircraft and killed instantly on the ridge. AWC Larry Favors, the crew chief, remained tethered inside the aircraft by his gunner's belt and was reeled about the cabin "like a yo-yo". Eventually the aircraft came to rest in the snow. The co-pilot, at the controls, LCDR Brian C. Gurr, from Fallon, was killed upon impact. LT Craig Bennett, the pilot in command had a broken jaw, but was otherwise OK. AWC Favors was bruised and shaken, but despite his injuries, extracted LT Bennett and provided him with preliminary first aid. Lee lay peacefully in the freshly fallen snow. How ironic and unfitting that he return from arduous sea duty and return to the relative safety of shore duty only to find himself in harms way once again. As aircrew, these are the commitments that we all make whenever we man up any aircraft for any mission Lee was whole heartedly committed to his duty as a SAR crewman.

There on the snowy eastern slope of Mount Grant, at N38 34.0 W118 42.0, we lost yet another friend, Lee Dengler.

We should never forget that the military is a dangerous business in peacetime as well as in war. We should never find ourselves lacking in our appreciation and admiration of those men who put aside all to bring relief to the injured or lost. Raise your glass to the others on the lists you see at the memorials or hear about through the news. Keep their names in your heart. Thank them for their courage, honor, and commitment to what they believe in, risking their lives so that we all may enjoy freedom from those many things that threaten us all, whether it be tyranny, injury, or death. Certain men are put on this earth as our deliverance from such threats. Lee Dengler is most certainly one of those men, a hero in the purest form. Lee ended his life on a mountain top high in the clouds, his benevolent spirit already lofting above that of most common men. There, at nine thousand feet, Lee was where he needed to be and wanted to be, that much closer to God, high above the surly bonds of earth.