A decade-long quest ends with pilot's third burial at Arlington
“Mayday!” came the frantic call from inside the tiny U.S. military attack helicopter after a rocket-propelled grenade fired by an al Qaeda-linked Iraqi lopped off its tail rotor and forced it to crash land in the desert 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. A fierce firefight soon broke out as the insurgents headed toward their prize: the downed AH-6 Little Bird chopper, and about 20 U.S. soldiers, including members of the secret Delta Force, who’d landed to protect it.
But just like the cavalry used to ride to the rescue, Air Force Major Troy Gilbert miraculously appeared from over the horizon. The militants were too close to civilians and friendly forces for bombs, so Gilbert screamed in fast and low—200 feet above the desert—and shredded the first truck with the six-barreled Gatling gun tucked into the left side of his F-16.
He roared into a tight right turn and opened up again, his eyes glued to the second truck.
[excerpted]
http://time.com/4581738/an-american-hero-comes-home-at-last/
