Lake Ridge, Va. — An area family is mourning one of the American heroes who died after he was shot down over Afghanistan last weekend.
Cheryl McNamee is the godmother of 25-year-old Michael Strange, a communications specialist with the Navy SEALS who was onboard a military helicopter shot down Saturday by at Taliban insurgent.
“Most guys from Philadelphia, like Michael, love the Eagles, they love Philly Cheesesteaks, but he was so much more. He was a thinker, and he loved his job and his family, and his family and all of us are very proud of him,” said McNamee.
Strange grew up in Philadelphia, but for the past two years was stationed in Virginia Beach where he lived with his fiancée. He joined the Navy when he was 18-years-old, right of high school.
McNamee and her family, also from Philadelphia and now live in Lake Ridge, will return home Saturday for a memorial service that will be held for Strange.
During a recent family get together, Strange told his mother, father, younger brother and sister that he leaves behind, he would see them at Thanksgiving when he returned from his deployment, said McNamee.
Strange’s body was returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where he will be cremated.
Thirty Americans, 22 of them Navy SEALS, were killed when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
All of but two of the SEALS killed were a part of the now infamous SEAL Team 6, the special forces unit that killed Osama bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan in May.
