July 30, 2004

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer

A Marine Reserve pilot was killed in Iraq July 28 when his AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter came under fire from insurgents on the ground. Lt. Col. David S. Greene, 39, of Raleigh, N.C., was shot while he and his co-pilot were conducting a daylight mission in support of coalition ground operations in western Anbar province, Reserve officials said.
Small arms fire from the ground penetrated the Super Cobra’s Plexiglas canopy, killing Greene. The lieutenant colonel is the highest ranking Marine to be killed so far in Iraq, Marine officials said.

The co-pilot, whose name has not been released, was not injured in the attack and landed the helicopter safely.

Greene was assigned to the Johnstown, Pa.-based Detachment A, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775 and worked as the detachment’s aviation maintenance officer.

“He was a roll up your sleeves and get business done kind of officer,” said Maj. Randy Parker, a squadron spokesman.

“He maintained a demanding [flight] schedule and still got out there on the flight line with his maintenance Marines to make sure things got done,” said Parker, who also had served with Greene on active duty.

The unit was activated in January for a seven-month deployment to Iraq.

A Naval Academy graduate, Greene was commissioned in 1986. He served mainly with East Coast-based squadrons, including Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, and on a Marine Expeditionary Unit deployment just after Operation Desert Storm in 1991 with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 162.

Greene also served as a forward air controller with the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company before leaving active duty for the Reserve in 1997, Parker said.

Greene, who in civilian life worked as a project manager for BF Goodrich in Burlington, Vt., is survived by a wife and two children.

“He was a star. He really was,” Parker said.