Local soldier dies in Iraq

Jacob Melson among 12 dead in helicopter crash

January 13, 2006

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

Editor's note: The surviving family members of Army National Guard Spec. Jacob Eugene Melson requested time to mourn their loss. For this reason, they have chosen not to comment for this story. However, on Sunday, the Frontiersman will publish the family's comments about Jacob's death and remembrances of his life.

MAT-SU -The night Army National Guard Spc. Jacob Eugene Melson died in Iraq began like many others.

He told a fellow soldier and close friend, John Smith, that he was ready for the next day, when he'd have a little time off to finally get a haircut and go to church. The 22-year-old soldier then gathered his weapons and boarded a helicopter in what would be his final mission.

Melson lost his life a short time later, along with three fellow members of his unit - the Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment - and eight passengers, which they were transporting to Tel Afar, a city near the Syrian border. Their chopper went down during bad weather in an area marked by heavy fighting with Iraqi insurgents.

In his last mission, Melson worked as a door gunner and flight engineer. Shortly before midnight Jan. 7, his aircraft lost contact with a second aircraft in the formation and was not heard from again.

The military recovered the bodies of all 12 victims, including 1st Lt. Jamie Lynn Campbell of Fairbanks, Chief Warrant Officer Chester William Troxel of Anchorage and Spc. Michael Ignatius Edwards of Anchorage.

As of Thursday evening, military officials had not determined the cause of the crash and were continuing to investigate.

A Mat-Su boy, through and through, Melson was born, raised and married in the Valley. He attended Colony High School until 2001. In July, he married high school sweetheart Sarah Ling Melson in Hatcher Pass near the Little Su River.

One week after their union, Sarah was sent to Illinois to begin her training in a career as a professional singer for the U.S. Navy. Only a month later, August, Jacob Melson headed to Iraq for a one-year tour in combat and combat support efforts. He was due back this summer for a leave of absence, but halfway through the tour he lost his life.

Melson hails from a longtime Valley family. He was one of four children and the son of Teresa Melson and Mark Melson, an Alaska Army National Guard captain.

Following in his father's footsteps, Melson joined the Army National Guard in 2001, after voluntarily entering and completing the Youth Corps Program in Anchorage.

The Melsons have attended Gospel Outreach Church in Wasilla since Jacob was 3. Pastor Mark Campbell said Thursday that he remembers Melson as a quiet young man who touched many lives.

“There was a strength in that quietness,” Campbell said this week. “I watched him grow up. He loved his family, the Lord, and his country, and he served them all. We are going to greatly miss him.”

Plans are being made for a public memorial service sometime next week, but details are not yet finalized.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.