Soldiers gathering to say goodbye

Iraq veteran dies in freak accident at Steamboat

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 3, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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O'Hara joined the military following Sept. 11 attacks.

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Veterans of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division are on their way to Colorado to say goodbye to one of their own.

They're coming to pay their respects to Eric O'Hara, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who survived numerous combat missions only to die a month after being discharged when he fell off an icy roof in Steamboat Springs.

The irony that he survived battle but lost his life in a freak accident back home is making the loss even more unfathomable for O'Hara's family.

"Having made it through 15 months in Iraq, and then to have this happen . . . it's really tough," said O'Hara's uncle, Dave Patston, of Centennial.

"Everyone loved him . . . I never met a person who did not love him," said his grandmother, Dolores Spurgeon. "His colonel called . . . and told his mother - my daughter - that Eric was the most remarkable young man he'd ever worked with, a born leader."

"Eric was Airborne," his stepfather, Bill Montag, said Sunday. So it was no surprise that commanding officers and members of an honor guard are coming from Seattle, Boston, New York City and other places to attend his services in Colorado this week.

O'Hara, 24, who graducated from Steamboat Springs High School, split his time between the Denver area and Steamboat Springs, Spurgeon said.

He joined the military because he was devastated by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, his grandmother said.

While serving with the 82nd in Tikrit, Iraq, he faced daily hazardous duty.

"He'd been in and out of the twin towers (of the World Trade Center in New York) when he was little," Spurgeon said. "His father was a stockbroker and had offices there."

When he saw the towers tumble down, "it just gnawed at him," she said. "He decided, 'I need to go to defend my country.' "

On Thursday, he was at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel, helping remove snow from the roof, according to Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg. He had just released a safety clip so he could move along a rope he was attached to for protection.

A piece of ice broke loose and O'Hara slid down the sloped roof and fell over the edge holding the safety rope. But he was knocked off the rope by falling snow, Ryg said.

A viewing is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Yampa Valley Funeral Home in Steamboat. A memorial service is scheduled at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel in Steamboat, with burial tentatively planned for 1 p.m. Thursday at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.

O'Hara leaves behind his mother and stepfather, Terri and Bill Montag; his father, Greg O'Hara; two sisters, Carissa Berlet and Katie O'Hara, all of Steamboat Springs; two stepsisters, Heidi Montag, of Los Angeles, and Holly Montag, of Denver; his grandmother, Dolores Spurgeon; as well as an aunt, uncle, cousins, nephews and a niece.

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2897 Staff writer Kevin Vaughan and the Steamboat Pilot contributed to this report.

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