Margaritta Gayo just buried her father two years ago. Now, she has to bury her baby brother as well.
Gayo and her brother, Isaac John, were a team, working multiple jobs to succeed in the United States. Then, Isaac enlisted in the Army.
Isaac, a 27-year-old sergeant, was among the nine soldiers killed Wednesday when a pair of helicopters crashed in Kentucky.
Margaritta was at work when she learned about the Blackhawk helicopter crash near Fort Campbell, and Isaac wasn’t answering her calls.
“I started to cry because I knew it. I knew if I received a call, he’s the one, he’s the one in the helicopter crash,” she said.
Then she received the call she feared.
“I’m in shock. I feel like this is not true. I hope someone says it’s April Fools,” she said.
Isaac, who immigrated from the Philippines, had worked three jobs before joining the Army. He worked so hard that the same day he died, Margaritta said she received the keys to the house he bought for her in Westlake.
“We’re going to be OK, we’re going to be settled down with a nice place,” she said. “We’re always dreaming. We’re always laughing, we’re always say everything happens for a reason.”
Isaac and eight others were killed in a “routine training mission” near the Kentucky-Tennessee border, where two helicopters were practicing a “multi-ship formation” using night vision goggles, according to the Army.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, but Margaritta said she plans to meet with the Army on Sunday to learn more about what happened.
“I cry all night, all day,” she said. “Every time I close my eyes, I think my brother is still here, and I told him, ‘Just visit me in my dreams. Tell me what happened to you.'”