Flags Ordered to Half-Staff for Brian D. Hornsby

Gov. Rick Scott has ordered state and national flags at half-staff Tuesday outside the Brevard County Courthouse, Melbourne City Hall and the Florida Capitol for Chief Warrant Officer Brian D. Hornsby of Melbourne.

Hornsby, a highly decorated U.S. Army pilot, died in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash northeast of Kandahar in August.

Hornsby, 37, who had also lived for a time in Lehigh Acres, was one of seven U.S. service personnel killed in the Aug. 16 crash that took 11 lives.

Hornsby, who joined the Army in 1998, served medevac missions in Honduras, air assault missions in Iraq and special operations support missions in Afghanistan. The father of two, he was on his second deployment to Afghanistan.

He was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.