A public memorial event for eight military personnel killed in a military helicopter crash of a UH-60M Black Hawk on Thursday last week is to be held on Tuesday at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.
Their coffins are to be draped with the national flag, the ministry said, adding that it would confer posthumous, one-rank promotions, with their families to receive their commendations and decorations.
Four Mirage 2000 fighters are to perform a “missing man formation” flyby, while three Black Hawk helicopters conduct a low-altitude flyby as a salute to the deceased, the ministry said.
The missing man formation starts with a standard “finger-four” formation and one aircraft, usually the leader of the second element, pulls up and out of formation to honor the person or people who have died.
The Black Hawk was on Thursday last week carrying the military personnel to Dongaoling Base (東澳嶺) in Yilan County when it went down in the mountains of New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) with 13 people on board.
The deceased were chief of the general staff general Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴), Political Warfare Bureau deputy director major general Yu Chin-wen (于親文), major general Hung Hung-chun (洪鴻鈞) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, major Huang Sheng-hang (黃聖航) of the Office of the Chief of the General Staff, chief master sergeant Han Cheng-hung (韓正宏), pilot lieutenant colonel Yeh Chien-yi (葉建儀), copilot captain Liu Chen-fu (劉鎮富) and crew chief master sergeant Hsu Hung-pin (許鴻彬).
Shen’s and Huang’s ashes are to be laid to rest at Wujhihshan Military Cemetery in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), although Huang’s urn would rest at a separate level, due to his rank, the ministry said.
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