Creede Marine dies in Iraq; former Fort Carson soldier among helicopter victims

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 22, 2007 at midnight

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Two servicemen with ties to Colorado died this week, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

Marine Sgt. Clinton W. Ahlquist, 23, of Creede, was killed Wednesday while participating in combat operations in Al Anbar province in Iraq.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Ahlquist joined the Marines in August 2002 and was a machine gunner.

Army Sgt. Adam Wilkinson, 23, of Miskayuna, N.Y., formerly with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, was among seven soldiers killed when a helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan. Fourteen others in the aircraft were injured.

Wilkinson was a helicopter maintenance team and crew member with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

He joined the Army in 2002, and served as a petroleum supply specialist with the 3rd ACR, then based at Fort Carson.

"He believed firmly in the principles ingrained in him by his family from an early age - loyalty, perseverance and an overwhelming sense of patriotism," said his wife, Tyffanie Wilkinson, in a statement posted on the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Web site.

Wilkinson was deployed in 2003 to Iraq.

When he returned, he switched his specialty to repairing Chinook helicopters. He was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in May 2005, and was deployed with his unit to Afghanistan.

"Adam spent the last two years training with and supporting a unit that he loved," said his wife. "The 160th was like a second family."

He was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

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