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Three helmets, three rifles and three pairs of boots marked the space where the soldiers should’ve been.

At Fort Hood, National Guard members gathered Sunday to remember the three Minnesota soldiers: 30-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 2 Charles Nord of Perham, 28-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 2 James Rogers Jr. of Winsted, and 28-year-old Sgt. Kort Plantenberg of Avon.

They returned from a nine-month deployment to Kuwait in May and were conducting a maintenance test flight last Thursday when their helicopter crashed near St. Cloud.

“This is hard. This is wrong. This is real,” said Lt. Col. Kyle Liudahl, commander of the 2-147 Assault Helicopter Battalion, who spoke to the grieving soldiers on Sunday.

“There is something we understand about our mission that also outsiders just can't grasp,” Liudahl told the memorial crowd. “We're banded together as friends for a purpose larger than ourselves.”

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Kahring spoke of his time with James Rogers Jr., who’d go by the nickname “Bobcat.”

Kahring said he knew Rogers would fit in with the rest of their company right away. Rogers would lift the spirits of those around him by bringing levity to the room.

“He would love to sing show tunes and come up with random jokes just to pass the time,” Kharing said.

Through a letter read at the service, 1st Lt. Aaron Johnson honored Charlie Nord, one of his closest friends.

“Charlie had a way of making every person he met feel like they're the most important person in the world,” Johnson wrote.

Spc. Nicole Cavanaugh spoke about Kort Plantenberg. She remembered him as a lover of the outdoors who always had something to say about a new fishing boat. He loved his work in the Guard, too.

“He loved to work on the birds and was keen on flying,” Cavanaugh said. “When his warrant officer application was accepted, it was the best day ever. You could not keep a smile off of his face.”

Funeral arrangements have been announced for the three soldiers:

3 soldiers killed in Minnesota National Guard helicopter crash near St. Cloud

Family, friends, colleagues mourn Minnesota soldiers

Minnesota News

Disasters

Cody Nelson

Author

At Fort Hood, National Guard members gathered Sunday to remember Charles Nord, James Rogers Jr. and Kort Plantenberg. All three were killed in a helicopter crash near St. Cloud last week.

A soldier steps towards and places an item on the memorial.

Photo courtesy of Sgt. Sydney Mariette

Soldiers stand in rows in front of a memorial.

‘This is hard. This is wrong. This is real’: Military honors Minn. soldiers killed in crash

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