Freedom Remembered

Born: March 30, 1973 in Phoenix, Arizona
Died: March 31, 2005 in Albania

Staff Sgt Patrick R Pentico was known to his family and friends as, “Tico.” He was born the son of Glen K. and Susie Ryan Pentico. Growing up in Hanksville, Utah he explored the mountains on his motorbike and had a fearless spirit about him. He attended Wayne High School where as a member of the wrestling team, he defeated opponents who outweighed him by 100 pounds. The team won the state title every year from 1988-92. Tico graduated in 1991. Tico was a happy person who lived life to the fullest. He loved all kinds of music, motorcycles, traveling, and water skiing at Hite on Lake Powell. On Mat 13, 2000 he married Melissa Dickey at her parents home in Orient, Washington. The couple had been living in England for more than three years while stationed at RAF Mildenhall, where he was a loadmaster on an MC130H Talon II cargo plane. Patrick was quite modest in many ways. In 2004, with one engine down and their plane heavily damaged by enemy fire, Patrick and his crew safely landed a C-130. All 58 people on board survived. But he never bragged about his accomplishments. The Airlift/Tanker Association awarded Patrick and his crew the Gen. P.K. Carlton Award for Valor for safely landing a battle-damaged C-130. The plane was transporting special operations forces during a mission in the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom when it received heavy enemy fire. During the mission, the plane took 19 hits from anti-aircraft artillery fire, one shell shattered the pilot’s windscreen. The plane landed with three of the four engines operating. Some of Patrick’s closest friends never knew he had received the award. He cared dearly for his many friends, family and the love of his life, Melissa. He is survived by his wife, Melissa Pentico, his parents, Susie and Kevin Hatch, and Glen Pentico, siblings, Parvonae, Cortney and Cole Pentico. He was preceded in death by his step-mother, Sherry Pentico, his grandparents, George and LaVaun Pentico; and Les Ryan and Marvel Ryan. Patrick died at age 32 while serving his country in the United States Air Force.

Air Force
352nd Special Ops Squadron
Royal Air Force base in Mildenhall, England

Burial is at Elgin Cemetery in Elgin, Utah

The Staff Sgt Patrick Ryan Pentico by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.