A somber procession of a half-dozen vehicles and a dozen motorcycles slowly wound its way through the gates at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery as dusk eased onto the horizon on Monday, April 17.
The motorcade, which formally began hours earlier across the country in Kentucky, had just journeyed methodically through the streets of Los Angeles. Its mission: Bring the remains of Sgt. Isaac John Gayo, 27, back to his adopted home in the City of the Angels.
Gayo, 27, of the 101st Airborne Division, was one of the nine U.S. Army soldiers killed when a pair of Black Hawk helicopters crashed last month near Fort Campbell in Trigg County, Kentucky.
Investigators have since found the helicopters’ flight data recorders, and are still striving to determine the cause of the crash. Officials said the pilots were using night-vision goggles during medical evacuation training.
Community members and first responders, including from Southern California police and fire agencies, gathered in tribute to the fallen soldier. The procession, organized by Honoring Our Fallen, was led by motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard Riders.
“It’s important to the family that they can see that the community cares,” said Laura Herzog, who operates Honoring Our Fallen and worked with the Army’s casualty care officer on the arrangements to bring Gayo home. “It is our job as parents, grandparents and the community to honor sacrifice. We need to gather in solidarity, no matter what the differences, and honor the men and women in the military and the first responders.”
The route from LAX to the cemetery: Sepulveda Boulevard; 105 East to 110 North; 110 North to I-5 North; I-5 North to 134-Ventura; 134 to Forest Lawn Drive; left onto Memorial Drive and into Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive. Gayo will be buried there Friday afternoon.
Along the way, people gathered to cheer, wave flags and salute the fallen soldier.
The procession arrived at the memorial park around 6:55 p.m. preceded by motorcyclists flashing their lights and stopping traffic.
Greeting the motorcade at the gates of Forest Lawn were two Los Angeles City fire engines flashing their lights as well. Firefighters and police officers saluted as the procession passed into the gates, with a smattering of veterans and other residents gathered nearby.
Not far away were Gayo’s family members, who awaited a private ceremony.
Gayo’s sister, Margaritta and his girlfriend, Karla Baldoza — an Army staff sergeant — came out to speak to the media.
“He wanted to be a pilot. My brother wanted to continue our dad’s dream,” Margaritta Gayo said as she held back tears.
Gayo, who moved to California with his family from the Philippines in 2012, had learned just the week before the fatal crash that he would go to flight school and start working to attain that goal.
“It’s heartbreaking because he had waited two years to get into that school,” said his girlfriend, Baldazo.
Tragically, also on the day of his death, Margaritta received the paperwork closing on the sale of the L.A. condominium she and her brother were purchasing together.“
“Moving into the new house, I can feel him there,” she said. “He is with us.”
Baldazo despite having opposite personalities — she is shy, while he was outgoing — they were a great match and had many plans for their future together.
“He would put me first,” Baldoza said, adding that she spoke to Gayo daily on the phone before the tragic crash. “He always pushed me to keep moving ahead.”
While serving on the other side of the country, Gayo checked in daily with his sister to hear her voice.
“He always wanted to make sure everything was fine,” Margaritta Gayo said of her younger brother during an interview earlier Monday. “He was a very kind person, always had a smile on his face, and wanted to help.”
He’d also send photos before flights aboard one of the helicopters, on which he worked as a maintenance chief.
Gayo, a housekeeping supervisor, said she and her brother were incredibly close. The two regularly traveled together and loved eating new foods.
Gayo said her brother studied computer engineering in the Philippines before the family moved to the U.S. Then, when they arrived, first living in Pasadena briefly, her brother did what he could to help the family out. He worked three jobs at one point, including at a local market, Universal Studios and the Los Angeles Unified School District, she said.
Gayo enlisted in the Army in 2019, attending basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then took advanced individual training at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
His awards and decorations include the U.S. Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
Margarrita Gayo and other family members attended a military service held by her brother’s unit in Fort Campbell on April 6. The somber event included a visit to the crash site, she said, adding the most painful of the experience was listening to the last roll call where the names of the soldiers who are fallen are called out to no response.
Also killed were:
— Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida;
— Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas;
— Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri;
— Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina;
— Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Florida;
— Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama;
— Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri; and
— Sgt. David Solinas Jr, 23, of Oradell, New Jersey.
“This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division,” Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell, said in a statement last month.
“The loss of these soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come. Now is the time for grieving and healing. The whole division and this community stand behind the families and friends of our fallen soldiers.”
On Monday, Robin Cessna traveled from her home in Ventura County to the cemetery to show her support for the Gayo family as an Army Mom – her son is currently on active duty.
“It’s so sad,” Cessna said. “For a soldier to die here (in the U.S.) instead of in active duty (abroad) is just as tough because you don’t expect that to happen.”
She added: “My condolences to the family. No parent should ever have to bury their child.”
City News Service contributed to this report