Minnesota National Guard Helicopter Crash Victims Identified

St Cloud, MN (KROC AM News) - The Minnesota National Guard has released the names of the three soldiers killed in Thursday’s helicopter crash near St. Cloud.

Killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer 2 James A. Rogers Jr., age 28
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Charles P. Nord, age 30
Sgt. Kort M. Plantenberg, age 28

They were assigned to Company C, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, based in St. Cloud. The Guard says their unit returned from a nine-month deployment to the Middle East in May. The three and their unit conducted medical evacuations in support of Operation Spartan Shield and Operation Inherent Resolve.

The three were in a Black Hawk helicopter and were on a maintenance test flight when it crashed just minutes after taking off.

Gov. Tim Walz has ordered flags lowered to half-staff through 2:05 PM Monday in honor of the soldiers.