Following the families of the fallen
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- March 8th marked the one-year somber anniversary of the Texas, Mexico border helicopter crash that claimed the lives of two local New York National Guard members. NEWS10’s Reporter, James De La Fuente sat down with John Grassia and Casey Frankoski’s parents to discuss the year these Capital Region Gold Star parents have gone through.
“I open the door and there's two military personnel standing there. And when someone asks me about that, I said, If you watch a movie just like that, yeah,” said John Grassia as he remembered the night he found out his son had been killed in the crash.
Grassia’s parents said it's a night and memory burned into their hearts. Judith, John’s Mom had just settled in, after a night out with friends. “That was the best last night of my life,” said Judith.
She said she awoke to her husband calling her downstairs and then the nightmare started. “I was just like, no, no,” said Judith.
The Frankoski family recalled the chilling details of how they found out about their daughter Casey.
Jill Frankoski started by saying, “A family member texted our son around 7:00 that night and said, ‘Is Casey, okay? There was a crash down there.’ We had no idea. So, we kept calling or texting or calling her, nothing.” Jill went on to explain, “My brother kept saying, ‘As long as they don't come to the house, she's okay.’ Four and a half hours we sat there. Every car that drove by the house I would jump to the window. The doorbell rang and that was the end of our life. It was like 11:30 that night.”
The families said this past year had been a battle of ups and downs. Going to numerous benefits to memorial funds, to scholarships, both say one thing has gotten them through, “The community support, not just this community, I don't want to say worldwide, but, you know, she touched people in other countries, they've reached out to us. But the support of all of the people that we know and the people we don't know, the messages are endless that we get every single day since this happened. Our family and our new friends, it's unbelievable, that's what's getting us through,” said Jill.
Before the tragedy, the parents of John and Casey had never met.
“We haven't been apart since,” said John.
“And that's when we realized, that not only did our children have so many things in common with their lives, but we also had many things in common with our lives,” said Judith.
A bridge in East Greenbush was named in Casey’s honor and the Grassia family said there are plans for a bridge in John’s honor, the Exit 25A overpass bridge.
“I many times look at his baby pictures and it just breaks my heart that he's not here. So, keeping the memory alive, that's just the thing,” said Judy.
Both the moms have not taken a look at the official report on the crash, but the dads did. They say they hope some changes will make a difference for future generations of the guard.
“We were told because there was no black boxes or data recorders in that particular model helicopter. We were told that any of those helicopters that were going to fly to the border going forward were going to have to have the data recorders and the black boxes installed,” explained Jim Frankoski.
They said there is another concern that hopefully was resolved from this tragedy. “After the incident, they were told not to patrol below 500 feet because they would patrol their areas around 200 feet. And so, they've changed that,” explained John.
NEWS10 has reached out the New York National Guard and the U.S. Army to learn more and we are waiting to hear back.
“I'm going to be honest with you. The report came highly redacted. So, you know what? Let us see the whole report, we’re the parents,” stated Casey’s Father Jim.
To which John Grassia’s father John added, “Use the Black Hawk.”