CWO 3 Niall D. Lyons
Born: August 28, 1969
Died: October 26, 2009 in Afghanistan
Chief Warrant Officer Niall Lyons of Spokane, Washington graduated from Shadle Park High School in 1988, earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from Eastern Washington University in 1995 and spent three years as a soldier before being accepted into the Army Warrant Officer program, where he graduated from flight school in 1999. He volunteered for Army service in October 1994. After serving three years in the Army as an enlisted Soldier, Lyons was accepted into the Army Warrant Officer Program at Fort Rucker, Ala., in 1998. Upon graduation from flight school in 1999, Lyons was assigned to 1st Squadron, 17th Calvary Regiment at Fort Bragg, N.C., as a tactical operations officer. In 2003, while stationed at Fort Rucker, he was assigned to 1-14th Aviation Battalion as an instructor pilot followed by an assignment with 1-145th Aviation Battalion as an Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course small group leader. In 2006, he was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 17th Calvary Regiment at Fort Drum, N.Y., as an instructor pilot and instrument examiner. After a successful assessment in 2009, he was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) in Savannah, Georgia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography from Eastern Washington University in 1995. He was a combat veteran with two deployments; one in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and one in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. His military training includes the Warrant Officer Candidate School, the Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course, the Aviation Warrant Officer Advanced Course, the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Course, the CH-47 Aircraft Qualification Course, the OH-58D Warrior Instructor Pilot Course, the Rotary Wing Instrument Flight Examiner course, the Basic Instructor Training Course, the System Administrator Course, the Air Movement Operators Course. Lyons’s awards include two Air Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Good Conduct Medal, two National Defense Service Medals, Iraqi Campaign Medal-Campaign Star, Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Combat Action Badge and Senior Aviator Badge. Niall is survived by his son John of Dothan, Ala.; his parents, John and Nuala Lyons; his brothers, Sean and Kevin Lyons; and his sister, Burnadette Buck. He died at age 40 of wounds suffered when the MH-47 helicopter they were aboard crashed in Darreh-ye Bum, Afghanistan. Also killed were Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael P. Montgomery, Sgt. 1st Class David E. Metzger, Staff Sgt. Keith R. Bishop, Staff Sgt. Shawn H. McNabb, Sgt. Josue E. Hernandez Chavez and Sgt. Nickolas A. Mueller.
Army
3rd Battalion
160th Special Operations Regiment (Airborne)
Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia
Burial is at Holy Cross Cemetery in Spokane, Washington
The CWO 3 Niall D. Lyons by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
