4 soldiers presumed dead in Black Hawk helicopter crash in WA

The four soldiers who were aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that went down near Summit Lake in Thurston County on Wednesday night likely died in the crash, the Army said Friday.

Recovery efforts continued Friday for the four service members, who were assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, a unit known as the “Night Stalkers.”

“Our hearts are with the families, friends, and teammates of these Night Stalkers,” Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, said in a news release. “They were elite warriors who embodied the highest values of the Army and the Army Special Operations, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

The Army has not yet identified the soldiers who were on the MH-60 Black Hawk that went down in a rural area about 40 miles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord around 9 p.m. Wednesday. The cause is under investigation.

Soldiers from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment are highly trained and recognized for their proficiency in nighttime operations, according to the Army. The Night Stalkers are headquartered in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with battalions there, at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia and at JBLM.

In November 2023, five service members assigned to the elite unit at Fort Campbell died during a helicopter training exercise in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center. The crew was conducting breakup, rejoin, air-to-air refueling operations and gunnery training when the helicopter went down.