Coast Guard identifies crewmen killed in copter crash

Sheila Finkenbinder spent much of Thursday handing out postcard-sized memorials to business owners and bus drivers in downtown Sitka, Alaska, where people are in shocked grief over the deaths of three Coast Guardsmen who were killed in a helicopter crash off the Washington coast.

The helicopter's co-pilot survived Wednesday's crash off La Push and is recovering at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

Accessible only by boat or airplane, Sitka is "a 16-mile strip of road between the ocean and the mountains," where townspeople have forged an unusually close bond with the roughly 130-member Coast Guard Air Station there, said Finkenbinder, executive director of the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce.

"Here, they save our lives. When we're stranded out in the middle of the ocean or on a mountain, they come in their helicopters and rescue us," she said. "It's very, very dangerous ... and to lose them is really painful."

The small memorials feature the U.S. Coast Guard emblem, with a black mourning band running across it that reads "In Memory of CG 6017" — a reference to the downed helicopter's aircraft number.

"The town's pretty broke up," Finkenbinder said.

"When there's a fire, people start throwing clothes and money at the people who are put out. But in this situation, they don't know what to do."

Thursday, the Coast Guard identified the four crew members whose MH-60 Jayhawk crashed around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the waters off La Push while flying from Astoria, Ore., to Sitka.

Killed were:

• Aircraft commander Lt. Sean D. Krueger, 33, of Waterboro, Maine.

• Aviation Maintenance Technician, First Class Adam C. Hoke, 40, of Great Falls, Mont.

• Aviation Maintenance Technician, Second Class Brett M. Banks, 33, Green River, Wyo.

The helicopter's co-pilot, Lt. Lance D. Leone, 29, of Ventura, Calif., survived the crash.

Both Krueger and Leone "are pilots, but we don't know which one was flying at the time" of the crash, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Nathan Bradshaw.

Leone was rescued by members of the Quileute Nation, who raced to the scene in fishing boats immediately after the crash.

Leone was later airlifted to Harborview, where he was listed in satisfactory condition Thursday, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson.

"His family is with him, and they're just focusing on him recovering," she said.

People who witnessed the crash have said the helicopter appeared to have hit a power cable that stretches from La Push to James Island.

McCadden confirmed the power line was knocked down but said it was too early in the investigation to determine what role it played in the crash.

The helicopter's flight-data recorder has been recovered and the Coast Guard is working to salvage the wreckage as part of its ongoing investigation, Bradshaw said.

A married father of three, Krueger joined the Coast Guard in 1998 and was awarded numerous commendations and medals.

He was born in Seymour, Conn., but grew up in Waterboro, Maine, the son of David and Maura Krueger, said his sister, Meagan Roy, 30, of Grand Isle, VT.

He was the oldest of four children, including two brothers, Roy said.

“He was a great kid, a great big brother,” Roy said, who “always wanted to be a pilot, for as long as we can all remember.”

One brother, Matthew, 26, is also a Coast Guard Jayhawk pilot, she said.

Sean Krueger’s wife, Kyla, and three children, Trevor, 8, Kerryann, 5, and Ashlynn, 7 months, were visiting her parents in New Hampshire when the crash occurred, Roy said.

Krueger was always dedicated to family, growing up and as a father, Roy said.

Krueger graduated from high school in Waterboro, where he was a member of the swim team before enlisting in the Coast Guard in 1994, Roy said.

“He went into his career to save lives,” Roy said.

He first served on a cutter at Cape Cod, Mass., then attended the U.S. Naval Academy for preparatory training before entering the Coast Guard Academy, where he graduated in 2000, Roy said. An avid sailor, he was a member of the sailing team at the academy, she said.

He then was stationed in Duluth, Minn., before attending flight-training school in Pensacola, Fla., and returning to Cape Cod.

While serving in Cape Cod, Krueger was a member of an aircrew that pulled four fisherman from a life raft who were suffering from mild hypothermia, according to Coast Guard Magazine.

“He was doing what he always wanted to do,” Roy said. “He was someone who saved a lot of lives.”

Under a pilot-exchange program with the British Royal Navy, Krueger was the aircraft commander of an H-3 Sea King helicopter involved in the rescue of a critically injured fisherman in high winds and 40-foot seas nearly 200 miles off the Isles of Scilly in the Atlantic Ocean, according to an online Coast Guard report.

The man didn't survive, but the rescue effort earned Krueger and his crew the prestigious Prince Philip Helicopter Rescue Award, which was presented in London in October.

"It was by far the most challenging rescue that I have ever done," Krueger told a Coast Guard interviewer. "There was a distinct point where we considered aborting due to the challenging conditions; however after one last try, we got our guy aboard."

After his return from England in spring 2009, Krueger, 33, was sent to Coast Guard Air Station Sitka. He was previously stationed at Air Station Cape Cod.

Though he'd served in the Coast Guard nearly 18 years, Adam Hoke wasn't even thinking about retirement.

"He always knew that he wanted to be a mechanic for aircraft," said his brother, Eric Hoke, 39, of Spokane Valley. "He had a lot of great stories and he really loved what he did."

Eric Hoke said he and his brother were born in Montana, but their father was in the Air Force and they grew up all over the world.

From the time Adam Hoke could walk, he was into cars, engines and anything mechanical, his brother said.

After Hoke graduated from high school in Florida, he went to work at Pan American Airlines as a mechanic. When the airline went under and he was laid off, Adam Hoke "went for his dream job" in the Coast Guard.

Perhaps the only thing more important than work to the 40-year-old decorated sharpshooter was being a good father to his son, Nicholas, 14.

"His life was consumed by two things: his son and his job," Eric Hoke said. "He was one of those people that had the opportunity to do the job they were born to do."

A thrill-seeking outdoorsman, Brett Banks was also deeply grounded in his Mormon faith and spent two years on a mission in Chile, according to his parents.

"He talked about the Coast Guard ever since he was in high school," said his mother, Sandra Banks, from the family home in Green River, Wyo. "He liked anything that was exciting and dangerous. He scared us to death but he just had no fear."

On another phone line, his father, Ivan Banks, added: "He loved living on the edge and lived life to the fullest."

The couple's other children — Brett Banks' three older sisters and two younger brothers — are heartbroken over his death, they said.

Brett Banks — an avid hunter, fisherman, swimmer and snowboarder — asked the Coast Guard to send him to Alaska and planned to retire there someday, they said.

First stationed in Homer almost 10 years ago, Banks was involved in the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where he met his future father-in-law, who introduced Banks to his daughter Tiffiny.

Within two weeks of meeting, "they knew it would be forever," Sandra Banks said.

The couple, who were married in the Anchorage Temple in 2001, have two sons, Shane, 5, and Austin, 2 ½. Their third child, a baby girl, is due in September.

"We believe death is not an end to life," Sandra Banks said of her Mormon faith.

"It's a great comfort to know he's watching over his little family from the other side and they'll be together again someday."

Seattle Times staff reporter Lauren Williams and news researchers Miyoko Wolf and David Turim contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com