Mykola M. Topchii

"At first, they shot down the first helicopter, and the second helicopter flew in to help. The commander of the helicopter that was shot down first allowed his technician to jump out and tried to save another crew member," said comrades-in-arms. But Mykola Topchiy's mother, who lives in the village of Blynzyky, refuses to believe in her son's death. "She asked the priest not to hold a memorial service, but to do it only after a year," said the head of the Blynzyky village council, Hennadiy Korol. "The woman says that her heart feels her son is alive. The guy has been through all the hot spots in the world, was in Liberia, and died at home. Everyone is just in shock." Mykola Topchiy left behind a wife and a 10-year-old daughter in Brody. In a month or two, the captain, an onboard aviation technician, was planning to retire; a house awaited him in his small homeland, where he planned to settle. On June 1, Mykola Topchiy would have turned 41 years old.