Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., offered condolences Monday to the families of two servicemen who were killed last week in separate accidents.
Naval Air Station Fallon Executive Officer Cmdr. Luther Hook, 44, and three of his daughters died in a private plane crash Friday night one mile south of the Fallon Municipal Airport.
Hook died in the twin-engine Cessna crash along with daughters Kaitlyn Elizabeth, 15; Rachel Katherine, 12; and Mackenzie Elena, 9.
The four were en route to Fallon from Fresno, Calif. The three girls lived with their mother and stepfather in Clovis, near Fresno.
Earlier in the week, Naval Air Crewman 3rd Class Sean M. Ward, 20, a former Fallon resident who moved to Lovelock in the 1990s, was one of five crewmen who died when a HH-60 helicopter plunged into the Pacific Ocean Tuesday during training maneuvers.
"On behalf of the state of Nevada and to the families, our thoughts and prayers are with you," Gibbons said Monday before the beginning of Memorial Day observances at the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery in Fernley.
The governor, a decorated combat pilot during the Vietnam War and Desert Storm, had logged more than 22,000 flying hours in both military and civilian aircraft. Gibbons also flew jets for a major commercial airline.
"You never anticipate something so tragic will happen and take your life," Gibbons said.
"I am extending my heartfelt condolences to both (the Hook) and the Ward families."
Reid said he is deeply saddened by the two losses.
"They are in our thoughts and prayers," Reid said.
The senior Nevada senator is familiar with the hazards of aviation, especially with aircraft carrier flight operations.
"My son's father-in-law has done 1,500 carrier landings," Reid said before delivering his prepared remarks to about 500 people.
He said Hook symbolized the good military leader and was representative of the men and women who spend hours training others at NAS Fallon and Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.
"We all take these heroes for granted," Reid said.
"Today is a very special day set aside to remember the services and sacrifices of all of them," Reid said.
He praised Ward and his involvement in the Lovelock community and said it's a tragedy when a young life is taken.
"Everyone knew that when he followed his father into the military, he was doing what he loved," Reid later told the audience.
Reid said Ward last spoke to his dad on Mother's Day.