CW3 Wilson B. Owens

20 December 1989, Panama

160th SOAR

Chief Warrant Officer Three Wilson B. Owens of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, died on 20 December 1989 while supporting Operation JUST CAUSE in Panama.

Following an enlistment in the U.S. Navy, Owens joined the U.S. Army to become a Flight Warrant Officer. Graduating flight school in June 1983, he reported to the 3rd Attack Helicopter Battalion, Giebelstadt, West Germany, as an aerial scout. At the completion of that assignment, he was accepted into Task Force 160 in 1986 and assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He advanced to become a Fully Mission Qualified AH-6 Instructor Pilot.

CW3 Owens was killed when the AH-6G helicopter he was co-piloting crashed near Telfers Island, Panama. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Group at the time of his death. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Three.