Helicopter pilot killed in Iraq crash

Joshua Tillery had lived in Beaverton, Banks

By David Holley

The Beaverton Valley Times, Jan 29, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Chief Warrant Officer Joshua M. Tillery was killed Monday in a helicopter crash in Kirkuk, Iraq.

Courtesy of US Army

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An army pilot who graduated from Banks High School in 1995 died in a helicopter accident Jan. 26 in Northern Iraq.

Joshua M. Tillery, 31, was a chief warrant officer in the 10th mountain division of the army, had lived in Banks since he was in third grade and enlisted in the army the summer after he graduated from high school, a family member said. Tillery was born in California, and lived in various parts of the Portland area, including Beaverton.

Tillery died in a crash involving two OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters that took the lives of three other men, including one from Washington. Tillery had been deployed to Iraq in October, his second deployment since 2005.

“He loved what he was doing and he believed in what he was doing,” said his step-father, Roger Trueax, of Irrigon, Ore. “He was a career soldier.”

Tillery lived in New York at Fort Drum with his wife, Stephanie, and three young boys. Stephanie Tillery is pregnant with a fourth child — another boy — expected to be born this May.

Trueax described Joshua Tillery as an excellent father and someone who loved to help people. Trueax said Tillery loved to fly, and graduated from flight school in 2003.

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