KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The community is preparing to welcome home a fallen soldier on Tuesday.
The body of Sgt. Richard Essex, 23, of Kelseyville, is being flown to California on Tuesday, with a procession planned through the county early in the afternoon.
Essex was serving in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
He was the door gunner on a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Thursday, Aug. 16, as Lake County News has reported.
The cause of the crash – which claimed a total of 11 victims – remains under investigation.
The body of Essex and several of his fellow soldiers was returned to the United States on Sunday, Aug. 19, according to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Office.
The “dignified transfer” on Aug. 19 occurred at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
His body will be flown from the East Coast on Tuesday morning and then will be driven to Lake County.
Essex’s procession will move down Highway 29 and then to Merritt Road before turning onto Main Street in Kelseyville, where it’s expected to pass through at about noon.
It will pass Kelseyville High School – where Essex graduated in 2008 – before moving back onto Highway 29 and then to Lakeport, where it’s expected at about 12:15 p.m.
The procession will turn onto S. Main Street at the Highway 175 intersection before winding its way through Lakeport.
The California Highway Patrol will be on hand to help control traffic to allow the procession to move on and off the highway.
Community members are welcome to line Main Street in both Kelseyville and Lakeport for the procession.
A public memorial service for Essex will take place beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, on the football field at Kelseyville High School, 5480 Main St.
A map of the anticipated procession route is shown below. It will be updated as more details become available.
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