Seven soldiers mourned after Texas copter crash

KILLEEN, Texas -- About 2,500 troops and other mourners packed a church yesterday to honor seven Fort Hood soldiers, one from Massachusetts, who were killed when their helicopter crashed after apparently striking cables supporting a TV transmission tower.

"Words can never express the sacrifice, duty, and sense of loss we feel today," said Major General James D. Thurman, commander of the Army's Fourth Infantry Division. "We honor them not to dwell on our grief but to remember their courage."

The victims of Monday's crash near Waco included Brigadier General Charles Allen, an assistant division commander from Lawton, Okla., and six comrades from the division who had returned home safely after serving in the Iraq war.