Sgt. Jeffrey Scott Angel II

Scott Angel was the kind of player high school coaches appreciated, his former baseball mentor said Thursday.

Angel, 24, from Gauley Bridge, was one of three soldiers killed Tuesday evening when their U.S. Army helicopter crashed during a training flight in northeastern Alabama, officials in Fort Campbell, Ky., said.

Angel, a sergeant, Capt. Scott N. Shimp and Chief Warrant Officer II David M. Stanley died when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter struck power lines in foggy weather and plunged into a pasture, Fort Campbell said.

They were all assigned to Company C, 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.

Alabama officials said the helicopter crashed into a field near a house Tuesday night. Debris was scattered over a large area and some of the crash wreckage burned.

Valley High School coach Joe Craffey remembered Angel, who was a student/athlete at the former Gauley Bridge High before transferring to play at nearby Valley, as having many attributes a coach looked for in an athlete.

"He was always a hard-working kid," Craffey said of the catcher who was a special honorable mention all-state pick in his senior year. "I never really knew Scott before he started playing for Gauley against us. He was always a good player. He had a good arm and could hit; he had the tools."

"He never said a whole lot," Craffey continued. "He worked hard at what he had to do and kept his mouth shut.

"And he tried to do everything to make himself a better baseball player."

Ironically, Angel was the first cousin of former Nicholas County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Giacomo, who was shot and killed in the line of duty Sept. 11, 2000, exactly seven years before Angel perished.

"It was weird; it was the same day Billy got killed," Craffey said. "We went to the cemetery (to visit Billy's grave) that night and came back and one of the ladies told us the next morning about Scott."

The son of Jeffrey Scott Angel I and his wife, Laura, of Fayetteville, and Kathy Jarvis and her husband, Mark, of Oak Hill, Angel is also survived by his wife, Megan, and daughter, Sophia, of Clarksville, Tenn. Sophia Angel was born Aug. 4 of this year.

Angel was a Black Hawk helicopter repairman who joined the Army in November 2002 and arrived at Fort Campbell in May 2003. His awards and decorations included the Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Army Aviator badge.

The Black Hawk was flying from Fort Campbell to the municipal airport in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the time of the crash, according to an Army statement. The crash site was about 190 miles southeast of Fort Campbell.

The loss of three soldiers, including the company commander, has been difficult for the approximately 100 soldiers in Company C, Fort Campbell spokesman Sgt. Mark Swart said.

"The chaplain got everyone together to help with the grieving process," he said.

A memorial ceremony is planned next week at Fort Campbell.