Posted at: 07/19/2009 9:48 PM
Updated at: 07/19/2009 10:49 PM

Print Story  Email to a Friend

Minnesota Airman Dies in Fighter Jet Crash

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Military officials have identified one of the victims of a fighter jet crash in Afghanistan, as a Minnesotan.

According to the Department of Defense, 27-year-old Captain Thomas Gramith, of Eagan, was one of the two crew members killed when the F-15E strike eagle he was flying in crashed Friday evening.
    
A 26-year-old crew member from Colorado also died.
    
Both were assigned to the 336th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina.

"Any time any airman is harmed in the line of duty it causes great pain.  It is personal.  I would definitely say fellow airman at the base and throughout the Air Force feel pain anytime a fellow airman goes down in the line of duty,” said Sgt. Shawn Jones.

The accident is now under investigation, but officials say it was not caused by enemy activity.