Paragould, Arkansas, US
United States Army
SGT, 707th Ordnance Company
Udairi, Kuwait, 03/13/2001
Sergeant Phillip Freligh served with us as a United States Paratrooper in D Company, 3rd BN (Airborne) 73rd Armor Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Ft Bragg, NC. Then he was a 19D Cavalry Scout.
Phillip’s last unit was with the 707th Ordnance Company of Fort Lewis, Wash. Phillip re-classed and became an EOD specialist in 1997.
Phillip was killed by a friendly fire incident in Kuwait 12 March 2001. We want to remember our friend, comrade and fellow Paratrooper.
In a quiet, somber ceremony, the bodies of the five Americans and the one New Zealander killed in the Kuwait training accident arrived in Germany on Thursday, where they will be autopsied at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
Those killed were watching the live-fire exercise from an observation post in Kuwait when the pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman released three 500-pound bombs that struck near their position.
Investigators are trying to determine if the accident was caused by pilot error or a mistake from an air traffic controller on the ground.
All of the bodies were brought to Germany. Those killed, according to the U.S. military, were: Air Force Staff Sergeant Jason M. Faley, Army Staff Sergeant Troy J. Westberg, Army Staff Sergeant Richard N. Boudreau, Army Sergeant Phillip M. Freligh, Army Specialist Jason D. Wildfong and New Zealand Army Major John McNutt.