Community Corner

Army Pilot Clayton Carpenter's Body to be Brought Home

The body of Army Captain Clayton Orun Carpenter – who was killed in a training accident on Wednesday, Jan. 15 when the MH-60 Blackhawk he was piloting made a hard landing near the Hunter Army Air Field in Savannah, GA – is being brought home on Thursday, Jan. 23. 

The procession will begin at LaGuardia Airport and make its way along the Taconic State Parkway to the Yorktown Funeral Home in Shrub Oak. 

"We are all very saddened by the loss of Clayton Carpenter," Cortlandt Town Supervisor Linda Puglisi said in a statement. She called Carpenter an "honorable, dedicated and very patriotic young man."

Carpenter, 31, was a platoon leader of an elite U.S. Army helicopter unit for the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, also known as "Night Stalkers" because of their proficiency in nighttime operations

"He did what he loved and died defending everyone he loved," said Yorktown Councilman Vishnu Patel, whose daughter Amy Daschle was good friends and classmates with Carpenter at West Point. Patel's son, Amit, is a fellow Blackhawk Pilot for the 3rd Battalion as well.

"He will be forever missed and forever in our hearts."

Carpenter, who moved to Cortlandt Manor when he was a young child, graduated from Lakeland High School in 2001 and from the U.S Military Academy at West Point in 2005. He was also a youth group captain for the Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps when he was in high school, Patel said.

He served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had previously been stationed in Hawaii, Alabama and Kentucky. 

"He was really an unbelievable individual," Patel said. "We are all shocked."

Shortly before the training accident occurred, he had come home and was planning on returning home again this weekend, Patel said. 

Carpenter is survived by his parents Colette and Paul Carpenter and brother Christopher.

"In our Cortlandt community we will never forget Clayton and will always hold him up as a role model for our youth," Puglisi said.

Wake services will be held on Friday, Jan. 24 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Yorktown Funeral Home, located at 945 East Main Street in Shrub Oak. 

The funeral service will be held at United Methodist Church, located at 1176 E Main Street in Shrub Oak on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. He will be later taken to the Arlington National Cemetery.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here