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Travis W Grogan


VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, USA U.S. Army CW2, C TROOP, 3D SQDN, 4TH CAV REGT, 25TH INF DIV, SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI 96857 BAMIAN, AFGHANISTAN 11/27/2004

Chief warrant Officer Travis Wayne Grogan of Virginia Beach, VA died November 27, 2004 in Bamian, Afghanistan when his aircraft crashed while on a supply mission. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

An only child, Travis grew up in Moore, OK, just outside of Oklahoma City. The future rescue swimmer took to the water young, joining the swim team at age 7. He excelled at the longer swim events, said his mother, Barbara Grogan.

Travis spent years around the pool with his head and body shaved, battling it out in swim meets with event numbers magic-markered on his arm. He pursued his other interests with equal vigor, his mother said.

Travis descended from a long line of servicemen, with relatives who served in Korea, World War I and the Civil War. While a junior in high school, Travis signed on with the Navy. For the next year and a half, he worked in his recruiter’s office, helping enlist other teenagers.

By graduation, he’d signed on a dozen people and caught the eye of Navy higher-ups, who gave him an award and told him to come see them if he ever wanted to be a recruiter. Once enlisted, Travis spent the next nine years as a search-and-rescue swimmer. Some of that time was spent at Norfolk Naval Station.

Later in 2000, Travis switched careers, tapping into another of his childhood loves: helicopters. He’d collected books and built helicopters out of Lego’s when he was a child, his mother said, but now he wanted to fly them. After transferring to the Army, Travis became a warrant officer and got his wish.

In 2001, he was stationed at Schofield Barracks on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. He was sent to Afghanistan in April 2004.

Travis had been piloting helicopters constantly since going to Afghanistan, said his grandmother, Wilma North.

“He knew why he was in Afghanistan. He was very proud of being able to serve his country,” North said. “If they had found him wounded, he would have said, ‘Doctor me up; I’m going back’.” North last talked with her grandson on the day before he died. He was in good spirits, but said he missed her special fruit salad.

In Hawaii, he leaves behind a wife, a 6-year-old daughter and an almost 3-year-old son.

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