Staff and wire reports
Former Gilroy resident and Saint Mary’s Catholic School student
Capt. Aaron J. Contreras was killed Sunday when his Marine
helicopter crashed in Iraq last weekend.
Staff and wire reports
Former Gilroy resident and Saint Mary’s Catholic School student Capt. Aaron J. Contreras was killed Sunday when his Marine helicopter crashed in Iraq last weekend.
Contreras, 31, and two other U.S. servicemen died when their UH-1N Huey crashed Sunday at a supply and refueling point. No enemy fire was involved, according to the Department of Defense.
“We’ll remember him as a loving, religious patriotic man. His birthday was the Fourth of July,” his older brother David Contreras said. “We called him ‘Pure Love’ just because of his overall demeanor. He was always happy and always smiling.”
David Contreras said his brother’s nickname and his role as a Marine soldier were not contradictory.
“He wanted to fly. He wanted to serve his country,” David Contreras said.
Contreras was assigned to the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He piloted the ill-fated chopper, his brother said.
According to Saint Mary’s, Contreras attended first-grade at the school before moving with his family to Sherwood, Ore., a suburb of Portland, in 1979. David Contreras said the family moved when his mother, Rosary, was transferred by her company, Intel.
Aaron Contreras was born in San Jose to parents Edward and Rosary Contreras. He was one of five brothers. The family lived in Gilroy for about three years, moving to Gilroy to enjoy life “out of the city,” David Contreras said.
Edward Contreras was a deputy for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s department for about five years, before heading up security for various stadiums in Oregon.
Aaron played football, basketball and some track and baseball at Sherwood High School, Edward Contreras said.
He graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., and joined the Marines in 1997, said the father, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marines.
Contreras married his wife, Janelle, in 1991 and they had three children, one boy and two girls. They settled in Temecula, Calif., to be close to Camp Pendleton.
“Aaron was very religious, and believed in his church,” said the father, who was notified of his son’s death on Monday.
David Contreras said Janelle and the children were doing “as well as could be expected.”
“Janelle is holding up, she is a strong woman,” David Contreras said. “The easiest way I can explain how we’re feeling is to say ‘Put yourselves in our shoes.’ This was definitely a shock.”
Tom McCarthy, a priest at Sherwood’s St. Francis Catholic Church, remembered Aaron Contreras as a religious man who could talk extensively about faith and the Bible.
“He was a very spiritual young man and very athletic, a hard worker, a great achiever,” McCarthy said. “It was that refinement of his spirit I knew best.”
Contreras regularly attended vigils at St. Francis Church, said his brother David. A Mass said Monday at the church was attended by Aaron Contreras’ parents, the priest said.
The parish sent notes and letters of condolences to his wife and children in California. Camp Pendleton will hold a memorial Friday for Contreras and the other crewmen killed, David Contreras said.
The family has set up a memorial fund for the Contreras children. Donations can be sent to the Aaron J. Contreras Memorial Fund in care of the Navy Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 3000, Marryfield, VA 22119. For more information, call (800) 656-7676.
Staff Writer Eric Leins contributed to this story.
