AW2 Jason "J-Lo or The Law" Edward Lawson HSL-46 SH-60B BUNO: 163593 Born: September 24, 1980 Died: March 12, 2002 Hometown: Smyrna, GA

AW2 Kevin "Dutch" Holland
I am the Lead Crewman here on HSL-46 Det 3 aboard the U.S.S Hayler. Jason was my junior AW. Jason has many callsigns actually, but he was known to us AW's as "J-LO" or "The LAW". He would always do these funny impersonations for us and make us laugh. He loved to fly and he really loved being a Navy Search And Rescue Swimmer. He was always the first one dressed out when we got called.
When ever we did a gunshoot he would ask to shoot first and then when he shot all his rounds he would always ask if he could shoot ours. He was so motivated. Jason loved his family. He would always show us pictures of his family and friends. I remember him showing us a picture of his dad in uniform and saying he was so proud of him. He was such a great guy and a great AW.
I remember flying with him during his first flight out here at sea and flying with him just the other day and seeing him do his job as a full fledged sea going AW. He was proud of his Wings of Gold and he was so squared away. Me and my other junior AW (AW2 Richardson) still wake each other up in the middle of the night because we can't sleep and we'll talk about how much we miss our friend.
During the memorial service here at sea, Rich and I, with tear filled eyes, pinned our wings on a wreath that we put to sea for Jason. I am so thankful I had the priviledge and the Honor to work with this outstanding young man. I will never forget Jason. He was a GRANDMASTER that Set the Standard. He was our friend.
Kevin R Holland
AW2(AW/NAC)
DET3 LEAD
Dutch has provided several photos of "the Law" with his shipmates. I encourage you to review them...look at his eyes, that squared away appearance, his smile, etc. A thousand words about Jason with each picture..get to know him. Devo

AWC George Poston's Eulogy
In the Navy, when we lose shipmates, even in tragic circumstances like this, we term it an Unexpected Loss. The loss of Petty Officer Lawson is indeed an unexpected, tragic loss for the Grandmasters, the Navy, and especially his family. But our loss is also an unexpected and welcome gain in the Lord's kingdom of fallen airmen. And Petty Officer Lawson is getting a hero's welcome, I assure you.

I cannot say to you that I knew Petty Officer Lawson all that well, because when a Sailor like Petty Officer Lawson comes into your division, it doesn't take long for the Leading Chief to realize that, "here is a Sailor I will not be spending a lot of time mentoring or counseling. He is already well on his way." " I am going to enjoy watching this young man grow up."

Therein lies my personal loss, I will not get to see Petty Officer Lawson achieve all of the things I knew he would. But he had already achieved many things. When Petty Officer Lawson arrived at HSL-46, he was already head and shoulders above his peers, having already achieved many things in his journey as a Sailor. He had completed four years of JROTC, had been promoted through the ranks of his Sea Cadet unit to the rank of Chief Petty Officer (which was a lot faster than my promotion pace), and then entered the Navy and completed the AW training pipeline with great success. All of these are a testament to his dedication to excellence.

I will also not get to witness his growth into the very close community he did not yet know he was already an integral member of. Petty Officer Lawson was not only a member of the most advanced Naval force in history, he was also a member of a relatively small but very unique Aviation Warfare Systems Operators community of the U.S. Navy. And for young Sailors like Petty Officer Lawson, the bonds that this community holds are not very apparent, but they are just as connected to it as the crusty old AW Chief. The bonds I speak of span the globe. I can assure you that as the news of the mishap spread, every AW in the Fleet stood silent for a moment and prayed, each in his own way, for his safe recovery. And when it became apparent that we had lost him, they stood in silence once again, and prayed for his peace. I know this because within hours of hearing the news myself, I began receiving phone calls of support and encouragement from shipmates. Some I knew, and some I had never met. Calls from places most of you have never heard of and from as far as Diego Garcia. This is the AW community that will not be the beneficiary of Petty Officer Lawson's presence. But we will always carry his memory, as we carry the memory of all fallen AW's.

AW1 Whit McNeil
I had the priviledge to be in SAR school with, at the time, AN Lawson. Of course, he picked up AW3 out of RSS and was moving on. He struck me as one of the most squared away young men I had seen at that stage of his naval service, and I don't say that flippantly. He truly was. Of course, being an old 1st Class PO fleet returnee sort going back to SAR school, I was the class leader. His reliability and dependability was everything we look for in a young AW. He was well groomed in the military ways. He knew what he was serving for. The Navy will truly miss this fine AW! God bless him and his family during this time.

U.S. Military Helicopter Crashes in the Med
Reuters News Service, March 12, 2002
ROME (Reuters) - A helicopter with a three-person crew from a U.S. navy ship crashed in the Mediterranean near Greece Tuesday, the Sixth Fleet said.
The Fleet said the helicopter, a SH60B Seahawk, went down some 80 nautical miles off the Greek west coast while it was on a routine flight Tuesday morning.
The helicopter was based on the USS Hayler. The Hayler and the USS Ross were conducting a search and rescue operation for the three crew members.
The home port of the U.S. Sixth Fleet is in Gaeta, southern Italy.

Search Continues for Crewmembers of Crashed U.S. Navy Helicopter in Mediterranean
Navy News Service, March 12, 2002
By 6th Fleet Public Affairs
GAETA, Italy (NNS) -- The search continues for three crewmembers missing when an SH-60B Seahawk helicopter operating from USS Hayler (DD 997) crashed into the central Mediterranean Sea at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time today (Mar. 12) during a routine functional check flight.
Search efforts include Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIB) from both Hayler and USS Ross (DDG 71), a P-3 Orion aircraft from Patrol Squadron 10, a British C-130 aircraft, as well as a Greek C-130. Thus far, searchers have found only an oil slick and debris believed to be from the helicopter.
Hayler lost radar contact and communications with the helicopter about 80 nautical miles west of Greece. The helicopter is a part of Helicopter Squadron Light (HSL) 46, based in Mayport, Fla., and currently was embarked aboard USS Hayler.
The Navy will conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash.

U.S. Navy Calls Off Search For Chopper, Crew: Three Missing Crew Members Identified
WKMG News, March 14, 2002
MAYPORT, Fla. -- Late Wednesday, the Navy officially called off search efforts for the helicopter and three crew members that went down in the Mediterranean Sea while on a routine training flight Tuesday.
The SH-60B Seahawk --- based at Mayport -- crashed off the coast of Greece while operating off the destroyer USS Hayler.
Chief Al Bloom, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 6th Fleet, said the search went through the night Tuesday and continued all day Wednesday with Navy boats and planes.
The crew members were equipped with life vests and emergency breathing devices but it was unclear how long they could survive in the water.
Almost 48 hours after the crash, the Navy officially called off the search.
The Navy has identified the missing crew members as Lt. Terri Fussner, 27, of Manchester, Mo.; Lt. Wayne Roberts, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and AW2 Jason Lawson, 21, of Smyrna, Ga.
In October, Fussner -- one of only three female pilots in HSL-46 -- said she dreamed of flying helicopters since she was a small girl, but had mixed emotions about this deployment at a time of war.
"Are we scared about it? Well, always a little bit ... there's a little bit of nervousness -- anticipation of the unknown," Fassner said. "At the same time, we have to fall back on that training and say, 'This is what we're here for.' This is what everybody on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean is looking for us to do ... protect them." According to a family friend, Terri Fussner's husband Garrett is also in the Navy -- a flight navigator based at NAS Jacksonville.
A prayer service was held Wednesday evening at Bethel Baptist Church in downtown Jacksonville, where Roberts' wife is a member. After offering prayers for all three crew members, church members said they would be with the Roberts family every step of the way.
The Hayler -- part of the Roosevelt battle group -- lost radar contact and communications with the helicopter Tuesday morning while operating approximately 80 miles west of Greece.
The Navy is investigating the cause of the crash.

U.S. Navy helicopter crew members presumed dead; search is called off
By Associated Press, 3/14/2002
ROME (AP) The U.S. Navy has called off the search for three crew members of a Navy helicopter that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea and said they are presumed dead. The search, which covered an area of 1,000 square miles, was ended late Wednesday, according to a Navy statement released Thursday.
The SH-60B Seahawk crashed Tuesday morning off the coast of Greece while on a routine training flight. It was operating from the destroyer USS Hayler and was part of Helicopter Squadron Light 46, whose home port is Mayport, Fla. The Hayler lost contact with the helicopter while it was flying about 80 miles west of Greece.
The crew members were identified as Lt. Terri Sue Fussner, 27, of Manchester, Mo.; Lt. Wayne Francis Roberts, 34, of New York City; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Edward Lawson, 21, of Smyrna, Ga.
The Navy is investigating the cause of the crash.

Search continues for missing helicopter members; Navy releases photos of two of the missing crew members
Florida Times Union
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
By Rachel Davis, Times-Union staff writer
Search and rescue efforts continue this afternoon for three crew members still missing from a Navy helicopter based at Mayport Naval Station that crashed Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea, Navy officials said. The crew has been identified as Lt. Terri Fussner, 27, of Manchester, Mo.; Lt. Wayne Roberts, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Lawson, 21, of Smyrna, Ga. This afternoon the Navy released photos of Fussner and Roberts.
The downed Seahawk is one of two from Mayport squadron HSL-46 Grandmasters attached to the Norfolk, Va., destroyer USS Hayler.
The Hayler is part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group on its way home from a record deployment in the Arabian Sea launching sorties into Afghanistan. The Mayport-based USS John F. Kennedy battle group relieved the Roosevelt March 6.
While operating about 90 miles west of Greece, the Hayler lost radar contact and communications with the helicopter.
Rescue efforts dispatched to the area have found only an oil slick and debris from the helicopter, according to Pentagon officials.
The SH-60B helicopter was being tested after maintenance when it crashed. It is unknown what type of maintenance the aircraft had undergone.
HSL-46 is a helicopter anti-submarine squadron that flies the twin-engine, single-rotor Seahawk, equipped to carry out a range of missions while deployed aboard ships with small flight decks and limited hangar space. Both the Hayler and guided-missile destroyer USS Ross are involved in the search and rescue efforts. Also providing support are a Navy P-3 Orion from Patrol Squadron 10, a nearby British C-130 and a C-130 from Greece..

Search for 3 sailors turns up nothing; Rescue off; all presumed dead
Florida Times Union
Thursday, March 14, 2002
By Rachel Davis, Times-Union staff writer
On their last leg of deployment from the war on terrorism, three Jacksonville-based sailors are presumed dead after their Navy helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece Tuesday.
The search and rescue efforts for the crew members, which continued through the night, were called off about noon yesterday, according to officials at the Navy's 6th Fleet headquarters in Gaeta, Italy. No one was found.
The sailors have been identified as Lt. Terri Fussner, 27, of Manchester, Mo; Lt. Wayne Roberts, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Lawson, 21, of Smyrna, Ga. All were members of Mayport Naval Station squadron HSL-46, attached to a ship in the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group.
The crew members were equipped with life vests and emergency breathing devices but it was unclear how long they could survive in the water.
Their helicopter went down in the Mediterranean Sea, about 90 miles west of Greece, after it lost contact with the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Hayler.
Search teams found only an oil slick and debris from the helicopter, according to Pentagon officials. HSL-46 is a helicopter anti-submarine squadron that flies the SH-60B Seahawk, the Navy's version of the Army's Blackhawk.
Jessie Lawson, father of Jason, told the Marietta Daily Journal he was informed of the accident Tuesday. Jason followed his father and grandfather into the Navy and would have served three years in June. "He wanted to fly," Lawson said from his home in Smyrna. "He did a job he wanted to do, and it was a job he loved."
Jason Lawson was a 1998 graduate of Campbell High School and participant in the high school ROTC program.
Lt. j.g. Kurt Parsons, a P-3 pilot at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, said he and Roberts had been friends since they joined the Navy and were commissioned together May 2, 1998. "Wayne is one of the finest people I have ever met and is of course one of the greatest naval officers," Parsons said. Roberts graduated from the University of North Florida in May 1998 and was part of the NROTC unit at Jacksonville University.
Friends of Fussner remember her as a dedicated and talented athlete who ran or biked for charities. Joe Pelley of Ponte Vedra Beach said Fussner was an incredible athlete and that everyone liked her. Pelley is a teammate of Fussner's on a bicycle team that raises money for multiple sclerosis.
The Navy is still investigating the crash. Details of memorial or burial services have not been announced.

Mayport honors lost sailors: Mourners crowd chapel for 3 killed in copter crash off Greece
Florida Times Union
Saturday, March 16, 2002
By Rachel Davis, Times-Union staff writer
Photographs and folded American flags were placed on the altar yesterday in memory of three Jacksonville sailors killed in a helicopter crash weeks before they were to return home from war.
Dress blues and khakis filled the pews in the balcony and lined the walls of the tiny sanctuary while about 50 others listened from speakers outside. Eulogizers at the Mayport Base Chapel spoke of funny, well-liked and dedicated sailors that paid the ultimate price for their countrymen.
Squadronmates, friends, their Navy family came to mourn the deaths of Lt. Terri Fussner, Lt. Wayne Roberts and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Lawson.
"Today we mourn the loss of a wife, daughter, husband, father, son, brother and grandson and friend," said Capt. Richard Sears, commodore for the Atlantic HSL squadrons. "But we are also honoring three heroes."
"We're angry, frustrated and we hurt deeply. However we are also proud. Proud to say we served with them, laughed with them, played with them and loved three American heroes," Sears said.
The 600-capacity chapel spilled over with mourners from HSL-46 squadron, city dignitaries and family members. About a dozen flower bouquets were placed at the base of the altar for the private memorial.
The HH-60B helicopter crashed after losing radar contact and communication with the Norfolk-based destroyer Hayler off the coast of Greece. Search and rescue efforts were suspended after teams found only an oil slick and parts of the aircraft.
The Navy is still investigating the crash.
Squadronmates still deployed with the USS Hayler also paused yesterday in remembrance of their fallen comrades. The officer in charge of HSL-46 detachment 3, still deployed with the Hayler, sent an e-mailed message to be read at the Mayport memorial.
"Our three shining stars will always be with us, in our hearts, sharing our souls and always in our memories," said Lt. Cmdr. Mark Nowicki. "I will never forget the feistiness of Terri Fussner, the ear-to-ear smile of Wayne Roberts and the gung-ho attitude of Jason Lawson."
Fussner, to all who knew her, was a competitive runner and biker with all the brightness of a cheerleader. And it was that brightness and her eyes that attracted a fellow Naval Academy student, Lt. Garrett Luebker, her husband of 4 1/2 years.
The neighborhood children would crowd around Fussner, dressed in her flight suit, in awe of the woman who got to fly the helicopters.
"She was sort of the female Top Gun," said Luebker, who is a P-3 tactical coordinator at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
Roberts, a mean Domino player and lover of jazz and reggae music, had a smile that lit up the squadron, said his friend Lt. Singo Sprauve, who gave the eulogy. Sprauve and Roberts, best friends, shared trials and victories.
They were both former enlisted sailors who went to flight school together. They complimented each other.
"He was a knucklehead at times," Sprauve said. "Through it all Wayne was always ready to lend a helping hand in any way he could."
And Lawson, a 21-year-old, was third-generation Navy. His mother, Joyce Lawson of Smyrna, Ga., begged her son to go to college, to get a degree before going into the Navy. But Lawson would have none of it.
He would enlist, just like his grandfather. And become an airman, just like his father.
He was a born leader who spent summers attending training at Navy bases and served as captain of flag detail and unit police in his high school ROTC program.
"He was able to have some great experiences," said his mother.

Mayport Mourns Lost Aviators
WJXT News
Friday March 15
By Tammie Fields
Immediate family of the three airmen lost when their Seahawk helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday joined the Navy family for a memorial service Friday.
<"He always wanted to be in the Navy. We tried talking him out of it, trust me," Jocye Lawson said.
<"I just looked in her face and looked in her eyes and I just knew she was a special person," Luebker said. "About two months later I knew I wanted to marry her."

Memorial remembers three missing crewmen
WJXX News
Friday March 15
By First Coast News Staff
JACKSONVILLE, FL - The community came together Friday afternoon as three missing sailors were remembered at Mayport. The gathering of Naval personnel, friends, and family prayed for Lt. Wayne Roberts, Terry Fussner, and John Lawson.
Friday's memorial service was packed as members of the HSL-46 squadron joined family and friends of the three crewmembers in an emotional ceremony that featured a large American flag draped over the altar and three smaller folded American flags to commemorate each missing crewman.
As part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt battle group, Roberts, Fussner, and Lawson were all returning home from taking part in Operation Enduring Freedom where the USS John F. Kennedy had just relieved them. The fact that the squadron was on their way home has made it difficult for some to understand why the events of this past week occurred.
Lieutenants Wayne Roberts and Terry Fussner and petty officer 2nd class Jason Lawson were listed as missing on Wednesday evening after their SH-60B Seahawk helicopter went down Tuesday. They are members of HSL-46, an antisubmarine helicopter squadron. The Navy says the search for the three missing sailors has been suspended indefinitely.
According to naval officials, when the Navy suspends a search, they look at the possibilities of someone surviving in the water, what they may have been wearing to protect themselves from the elements, and water temperatures. The water temperature when the helicopter went down was between 59 and 63 degrees Fahrenheit - similar to the water temperature off the First Coast.

Navy to honor Georgian, 2 other casualties; All 3 still sought after crash at sea
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday March 15
By Ron Martz
A Smyrna sailor who died following the crash of a Navy helicopter in the eastern Mediterranean earlier this week will be honored at a memorial service in Florida today.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Lawson, 21, and two other crew members on the helicopter will be remembered in ceremonies at the Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, where they were based. Navy officials said Thursday that the three were declared dead, although their bodies have not been recovered.
The other two were identified as Lt. Terri Fussner, 21, of Manchester, Mo., and Lt. Wayne Roberts, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y. All three were assigned to HSL-46, a light helicopter squadron, and were returning home following a six-month deployment overseas in the war on terrorism.
Navy officials said the SH-60B Seahawk helicopter went down Tuesday about 90 miles west of Greece while on a "routine functional check flight." On a functional check flight, the crew puts the helicopter through its paces to ensure all systems are working.
The search for survivors was called off late Wednesday after wreckage that appeared to come from the helicopter was found. The Seahawk is the Navy's version of the Army Black Hawk helicopter. Based aboard destroyers, cruisers or frigates, the Seahawk is used for anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, drug interdiction, anti-ship warfare, cargo hauling and special operations.
"We have found some pieces of debris. We have not found the crew members," said Lt. Commander Nick Balice, a spokesman for the Navy's 6th Fleet.
Lawson, a three-year veteran of the Navy, was an anti-submarine specialist. A 1998 graduate of Campbell High School, Lawson was a third-generation sailor.
The helicopter was assigned to the destroyer Hayler, which is part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group. The carrier served as a launch pad for Navy and Marine aircraft striking targets in Afghanistan.
The cause of the crash was unknown and will be investigated, the Navy said.