Joshua C. Sticklen killed in helicopter crash

A 24-year-old Marine from Virginia Beach died Sunday, after the helicopter he was traveling in crashed in Iraq, the Defense Department announced Wednesday.

Cpl. Joshua Sticklen was stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force.

He was one of four Marines killed when a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter plunged into a lake in al-Anbar province, a volatile Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold.

One of the Marines was pulled from the water but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. The three others were found later during a search.

Twelve of the troops aboard the helicopter survived.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Defense Department said in a release. In case of an emergency, the helicopter was equipped to land and taxi in water.

Sticklen's family - Margaret Sticklen, his mother, and Larry and Rebecca Sticklen, his father and stepmother - live in Virginia Beach. They didn't want to comment Wednesday but said they would release a statement later in the week. Several residents of Sticklen's Virginia Beach neighborhood also declined to comment.

In 2004, according to a Marine Corps magazine, Sticklen was an intelligence analyst helping his unit develop three-dimensional models of terrain they'd be training in. The work gave commanders a better idea of where their troops were and what they'd be getting into.

His work on these extremely detailed models shed light on a young man who, in his work, was patient, paid attention to detail and was proud of a job well done.

"We build the model one square at a time," Sticklen told the magazine Marines. "You have to pay close attention to the contour lines in order for everything to match, but once it does, it looks incredible."

There were long days in completing the model, he was quoted as saying, but "the satisfaction of the completed project was well worth the time spent."

From the Daily Press