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Pestka Ronald Richard

Name:
Ronald Richard Pestka
Rank:
Private First Class
Serial Number:
Unit:
2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment
Date of Death:
1971-08-18
State:
New York
Cemetery:
Mount Calvary Cemetery, Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York, USA
Plot:
Section M
Row:
Lot 314
Grave:
Decoration:
Comments:

Ronald Richard Pestka was born on August 28, 1949, in Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York. He was the son of Chester Wallace Pestka and Celia Seymour Krempholtz Pestka. He graduated from Bishop Neumann High School in 1968 and from Erie Community College in 1970. He entered the Army in August 1970 and was stationed in Germany. He served in the Heavy Mortar Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, as a Private First Class and Mortarman during the Vietnam War era.

On August 18, 1971, a U.S. Army CH-47A Chinook (tail number 66-19023) transporting troops from Ludwigsburg to the Grafenwöhr training area crashed near Pegnitz, Germany, when a decommissioned rotor blade was mistakenly reinstalled and failed mid-flight. The aircraft broke apart in the air, killing all 37 aboard, including 33 soldiers and 4 crew members, marking the deadliest peacetime U.S. military accident in
West Germany since World War II.

PFC Pestka, who was among the passengers on board and is now buried in the Mount Calvary Cemetery, Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.chinook-helicopter.com, www.findagrave.com