LIBBY – The family of a 29-year-old Libby soldier killed during a training mission off the Virginia coast says Staff Sgt. James R. Stright was a really good man and “a damn fine soldier.”
Army officials say Stright was killed Thursday night when a helicopter crashed on a Navy ship as he and others were rappelling down a rope to the ship’s deck.
His father, Bob Stright, said he was “quite honored” when his son decided to join the Army. He called his son “a damn fine soldier” and “the elite of the elite.”
Officials say the accident happened while soldiers were training to board, search and seize ships that might be under control of pirates or terrorists.
Bob Stright says his son found a little bit of adventure, a life that would take him around the world and a career that would make a quiet but profound difference.
A funeral will be held in Libby, but a date hasn’t been set.