Nampa Idaho

Peltzer, Matthew
Idaho National Guard Warrant officer 3

Matthew Peltzer, age 43, from Nampa, Idaho.

Spouse: Heidi (Leben)
Children: Luthien, 7; Iris, 4

Service era: Afghanistan

Date of death: Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Death details: Among three soldiers killed after their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed south of Lucky Peak near Boise during a routine training flight.

Tribute from Cloverdale Funeral Home: 

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew David Peltzer was born and raised in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He studied computer science and mathematics at Seattle Pacific University, where he met and fell in love with Heidi Leben. They married on May 31, 2003, and have two daughters: Lúthien (7) and Iris (4).

Matt enlisted in the Idaho Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 183rd Aviation Regiment as an officer candidate in July 2005. He attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, graduated from the Idaho Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School in 2007, and graduated after 18 months of training as an AH-64 Apache pilot at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 2010.

In 2015, Matt flew the AH-64D Apache in support of the Idaho Army National Guard’s rotation to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. After the battalion reorganized and transitioned from Apaches to Black Hawks in 2016, he returned to Fort Rucker to attend a UH-60 Black Hawk qualification course.

In 2019, he mobilized for two weeks to Huehuetenango, Guatemala, as a Black Hawk pilot in support of Operation Beyond the Horizon. He also flew rotations at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and the Air Assault Rappel School in Astoria, Oregon and transported numerous dignitaries in support of local and national Department of Defense initiatives.

Matt served as an AH-64 Apache pilot in command, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, an aviation mission survivability officer, an aviation safety officer, and a medevac helicopter pilot. He also served since 2018 as an information technology programmer for the Idaho Military Division.

His awards include the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, the Senior Aviator Badge, and the Idaho Adjutant General’s Outstanding Unit Award.

Source: Idaho National Guard, Cloverdale Funeral Homes

Dyas, Robert E.
Army Specialist

Robert E. Dyas, age 21, from Nampa, Idaho, Canyon county. Their last known residence was in Canyon.

Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas.

Date of death: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Death details: Died in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan of injuries suffered when insurgnest attacked his unit with small arms fire. Spc. Jakob J. Roelli also died.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Near, Robert J.
Army Private 1st class

Robert J. Near, age 21, from Nampa, Idaho, Canyon county.

Parents: Dale Near
Spouse: None
Children: None

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Granger High (2007)
Military history: 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Date of death: Friday, January 7, 2011
Death details: Died at Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Garcia, Albaro Quezada
Army Specialist 4

Albaro Quezada Garcia, age 21, from Nampa, Idaho, Canyon county.

Parents: Perta Q. Negele

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, June 24, 1970
Death details: Died of wounds

Source: National Archives, Fort Worth Star Telegram (1970)

Kimura, Kay Kazu
Marines 1st lieutenant

Kay Kazu Kimura, age 26, from Nampa, Idaho, Canyon county.

Parents: Tom T. Kimura
Spouse: Naomi (Nagai) Kimura, married August 24, 1969.

Schools: Nampa High (1962), Idaho State University, Treasure Valley Community College.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, March 7, 1970
Death details: He was the co-pilot of a helicopter that was flying in support of a mission when it crashed in the coastal water of Thua Thien Province.

Source: National Archives, Idaho Statesman (1970)

Chinn, Leonard Kelsey
Army Sergeant 1st class

Leonard Kelsey Chinn from Bonneville County Nampa, Idaho .

Parents: William Chinn

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On July 12, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Master Sergeant Leonard Kelsey Chinn, missing from the Korean War. Master Sergeant Chinn entered the U.S. Army from Idaho and served in D Company, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, as his unit was fighting through a heavily defended Chinese roadblock while retreating from Kunu-ri, North Korea. He was marched to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley Main Camp Cluster with a large group of prisoners. From there, MSG Chinn was moved to POW Camp 5 at Pyoktong, where he died of malnutrition in late April 1951. He was buried near the camp, but his remains were not among those returned to the U.S. following the war. In 1993, the North Korean government repatriated the remains of several U.S. service members recovered near POW Camp 5, many of which could not be identified at the time. In 2018, U.S. analysts using modern forensic techniques successfully identified MSG Chinn among these remains. Master Sergeant Chinn is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Idaho Statesman (1951)

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