Rice Lake (WQOW) - On Monday night, Darrell and Jan Walker received a phone call from their daughter-in-law confirming every parent's worst nightmare. The helicopter their son Todd and two other men were flying in had been shot down in Afghanistan. All three men were killed.
"You really don't believe it when they first tell you," Darrell says.
"Al Qaeda is claiming that they did it, but other sources say that it was a malfunction of the helicopter," Jan remarks. "So I don't know if we will ever know."
Todd flew helicopters for 27 years all across the world. He had spent the last year in Afghanistan, working with AAR Airlift and the U.S. Department of Defense.
"They would fly mail in to remote places that don't get their mail; and supplies and ammunition. And when soldiers had to go from one base to another, they would fly the soldiers," remembers Jan.
Todd's parents describe him as a godly man. He also liked to joke around, hunt, fish, and loved to root on his favorite football team, the Green Bay Packers.
"He always had a smile or a smirk on his face. He loved to argue about politics or Green Bay Packers, says Jan. "He wore his Green Bay Packer clothes, which everything he had was Green Bay Packer; all over the different parts of the world."
"He was willing to help anybody," Todd's dad remembers. "If you had a problem or needed a hand, he was always there."
"He loved the Lord and that was first in his life. After that, his wife and his three kids. He adored his family," says Jan.
"He liked people. He liked to travel. He wasn't afraid to do anything," Darrell recounts.
"He lived on the edge. That's what I always tell everybody," says Todd's mom. "He lived on the edge all his life."
Todd was 48 years old. He leaves behind a loving wife, three kids, a sister, and his parents
His body will be flown back to Rice Lake in the next few days. Family members are flying in from Arkansas Wednesday night to get ready for Todd's funeral.
His parents told us the funeral will be held in Rice Lake, but haven't set a date yet.
