The four U.S. Army soldiers aboard an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that went down during a training flight near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington earlier this week are believed to be dead, officials said Friday.
The helicopter was on a routine training mission west of the base when it crashed around 9 p.m. Wednesday. Deputies with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office located the crash site in the Summit Lake area on Thursday.
The Army did not disclose whether the soldiers’ bodies have been recovered. Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations, said the soldiers, members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, will be mourned by their fellow Night Stalkers.
“Our hearts are with the families, friends and teammates of these Night Stalkers,” Braga said. “They were elite warriors who embodied the highest values of the Army and the Army Special Operations, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
The Army has not released the names of the soldiers. It added that the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord has seen other aviation accidents in recent years, including an Apache helicopter crash in March 2024 that injured two soldiers, and a Navy jet crash near Mount Rainier in October 2024 that killed two aviators.
Meanwhile, Poland announced on Friday that two of its special forces commandos were killed during a nighttime parachute training exercise in the United States.
“With deep regret we inform you that on September 19, 2025, during a night parachute training exercise in the United States a tragic accident occurred, resulting in the death of two special forces soldiers,” the General Command of the Armed Forces of Poland wrote on X.
Z głębokim żalem informujemy, że 19 września 2025 roku, podczas nocnego szkolenia spadochronowego realizowanego w Stanach Zjednoczonych, doszło do tragicznego wypadku, w wyniku którego zginęło dwóch żołnierzy Wojsk Specjalnych.
Rodziny poległych zostały objęte wszechstronnym… pic.twitter.com/NgJDDX7gxL
— Dowództwo Generalne (@DGeneralneRSZ) September 19, 2025
It added that “the causes of the incident are the subject of an investigation conducted by a special commission set up to clarify this tragic event,” and that the families of the soldiers have been provided full support.
