Soldier Honored: Luis M. Melendez Sanchez

Air Force Staff Sergeant Luis M. Melendez Sanchez, 33, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was assigned to the 1^st Communications Squadron, based at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Staff Sergeant Melendez Sanchez lost his life on February 17^th, 2006, when two CH-53 helicopters crashed into the Gulf of Aden while flying a training mission in the Godoria Range area. He had been deployed as part of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

Staff Sergeant Melendez Sanchez is remembered by his wife as a great family man, soft-spoken with a hidden dry sense of humor. He leaves behind a wife and two boys.