CAP: CAP Missing Man Flyby

January 28: Two plane flying over Brookings last Friday –one playing recorded versions of "Taps" and "Amazing Grace" – were doing so as part of a private memorial tribute at the airport.

The planes caught the attention of many residents and spurred phone calls to local authorities and the Curry Coastal Pilot.

"It was for a friend of mine, a member of the Blackwater group, who died in Baghdad in 2007," said Scott Bakker, president of the Guardians From Above and a commander of the Brookings Civil Air Patrol.

Bakker piloted the Guardian's Skymaster aircraft as it conducted a "missing man" flyby, accompanied by a Civil Air Patrol plane.

Local aviators joined Bakker at the airport at noon Friday for a memorial tribute on the second anniversary of Art Laguna's death in Iraq. Bakker had been friends with and worked with Laguna for 30 years. Bakker said Laguna's wife, Marybeth, asked him to coordinate the tribute and do the flyover, which he was more than happy to do.

"Art is one of the unsung heroes," Bakker said. "He's one of the many former military people volunteering to protect our dignitaries in hostile places."

Laguna was the father of four and grandfather of six, a veteran of 30 years with the U.S. Army and National Guard who served in Bosnia and three times in Iraq, Bakker said.

Laguna, a helicopter pilot, was last working for the Blackwater group, which hires former military and law enforcement people as armed guards for government officials and contractors overseas.

In January 2007, Laguna and his crew were killed while flying a mercy mission to save the life of an American diplomat pinned down by enemy fire in Iraq, Bakker said. The Department of Defense posthumously awarded him the Legion of Merit earlier this year – a decoration for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements."

On Jan. 23, as people gathered at the Brookings Airport for Laguna's tribute, Bakker flew a Skymaster plane about 2,000 feet above town, followed by the Civil Air Patrol plane which broadcast recorded music over a loudspeaker. It was also a training opportunity for the Civil Air Patrol crew, which practiced taking aerial photographs of the coast.
Credit here...

According to the Guardians From Above web site: Guardians From Above

is the brainchild of Scott Bakker and Tom Moore of the

Civil Air Patrol 105 South Coast Composite Squadron.

After others failed to rescue James Kim before he

succumbed to exposure in December, 2006, GFA was

formed by linking the resources of Civil Air Patrol

with those of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.