42, of Alexandria, Va.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, Maine National Guard, Bangor, Maine; died Aug. 27 in Kuwait City, Kuwait, in a noncombat incident.
PORTLAND, Maine — A soldier from Maine who served in the National Guard has died in Kuwait, military officials said Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Jessica Wing, 42, of Glenburn, died Monday, the Department of Defense said. Officials said her death wasn’t related to combat, but they didn’t provide details on the circumstances.
Wing was a helicopter crew chief assigned to the 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment out of Bangor. The unit provides medical evacuation to patients and military personnel using medically equipped UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
“The untimely and tragic loss of SSG Jessica Wing has deeply saddened and shocked all of us in the Maine National Guard and across the state of Maine,” Col. James Campbell, the acting adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, said in a statement.
Wing served in the guard for eight years and was on active duty in the Army for 11 years before that, according to the Maine National Guard. She was deployed to Haiti and Bosnia while in the Army and was sent to the Middle East three times while with the Guard.
Wing was not married and had no children, officials said.
Gov. Paul LePage said Maine “has lost a great soldier and a great Mainer.”
“We are forever indebted to her for her service to her state and to her country,” he said in a statement.
Funeral set for helicopter crew chief from Maine
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine National Guard helicopter crew chief will be laid to rest this weekend in Augusta.
The funeral for Staff Sgt. Jessica Wing will be held Saturday at the Augusta Armory, followed by burial at the Maine Veterans Cemetery in Augusta.
The 42-year-old from Glenburn was on her third deployment when she died in what the military described as a noncombat incident in Kuwait. The Defense Department has not divulged details of the incident, which remains under investigation.
Wing served in the guard for eight years and was on active duty in the Army for 11 years before that. She was assigned to the First Battalion, 126th Aviation Medevac Company out of Bangor.
3 Comments
Thank you, girl. Our family misses you. Xoxo
Until The Day We Meet Again
On March 23, 2015, Roberta Doe wrote —
Looking back on the March 6th, 2015 walk of the Summit Project volunteers with the University of Southern Maine, I am still in a place of quiet reflection. Prior to the trek, I talked with organizers to see if Jessica had a remembrance stone. Upon hearing that as of that date, she did not, I wrestled with wanting to honor her memory in some way.
She was a respected and loved comrade of a dear family friend. I learned of her and her loss of life through this friend, who was deeply wounded by Jessica’s death. Since there was no stone, I decided that I would carry a framed photograph of Jessica during the trek, while I also honored a friend’s son who was killed in Afghanistan.
During the days and weeks prior to the trek, I read about Jessica’s length and breadth of active and reserve military service and her multiple deployments. I heard from our family friend of her dedication to excellence and her desire to make sure that any equipment that she was part of maintaining was in excellent repair for her fellow servicemen and women.
I was able to share about Jessica’s service with other volunteers during the trek. I also got to speak with a soldier who was on the trek who knew her and was able to watch his countenance as he shared how he knew her was saddened by her death.
I am honored that my daughter and I were able to do the TSP trek and that I was able to honor Jessica’s memory and service in this way. I am please that TSP chooses to honor all military personnel who lose their life during active service. I was proud to be a part of keeping her memory alive through sharing a piece of her life story. It was also my honor to do this with my 18 year old daughter. Know that your family member is not forgotten and that her sacrificial service on our behalf is valued greatly. There are no words that can fully express our heartfelt sorrow for your loss.
Our group of 8 women was organized to hike the south ridge trail of Cadillac Mountain on July 6, 2017 on a glorious sunny day.
Several of us are from the greater Bangor area, and had requested Jessica’s memorial stone to carry. When we learned that there was no stone, we improvised. A stone was selected from her town of Glenburn, and each of us took turns carrying the unmarked stone up and down the trail. At the summit, our Glenburn resident shared Jessica’s impressive story, and we all signed a patriotic scarf that was later made into a bag for her stone. We hope that this is acceptable to the family and TSP because it was so important to us to be able to include and recognize Jessica Wing for her outstanding service and sacrifice to our country. We were proud of her accomplishments and felt strongly that our women’s hike should honor the bravery of “our sister” soldier.
We hope that others will carry the stone that we provided to TSP to honor and thank Jessica Wing for her service and sacrifice.