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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Army Chief Warrant Officer 3, Eric W. Totten, was born on May 10, 1971 to parents Noel Totten, Sr. and Floranne Totten in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ramsey County, the youngest of six offspring.

He grew up in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul and attended Ramsey Junior High School. He also lived for a time in Golden Valley, Minnesota, Hennepin County, before moving with his father, a building contractor, to Oklahoma and then to Dallas, Texas when he was 16. There he resided with his father and stepmother, Tommie Totten and attended the Art Magnet High School for talented musicians.

Eric became an accomplished musician learning to play the trumpet, clarinet, piano and guitar. His brother, Noel Totten, Jr., said, “He was amazing. He had a very natural ability to pick up instruments and just start playing.” He further said, the “baby of the family” had a passion for music that was rivaled only by his infatuation with flying - he built model planes and hung them in his room after his first viewing of "Star Wars."

Shortly after graduating from high school in 1993, and experiencing the loss of his best friend to drugs and suicide, according to his family, Eric’s life changed dramatically. At age 19 he decided he wanted to do more with his life and enlisted into the Army Special Forces intending to pursue his love of flying.

Tommie Totten said her love for her stepson grew every day, and once he entered the military, they became even closer. Eric's mother died in 2004 and his father passed away in July of 2005. At that time Eric was assigned to Company B, 3^rd Battalion, 10th Aviation, at Fort Drum, NY as a CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilot having previously served in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

His colleagues said he was very good. Calvin Dockery, a fellow Chinook pilot who had spent 6 months in Afghanistan with Eric, explained how “the Chinook is huge. It looks like a bus with huge rotors over the front and back ends. It weighs almost 12 tons empty and can carry three dozen troops, including the crew.” He went on to say, "Eric was just so calm all the time. He just never seemed to get too excited. He was very levelheaded, a really intelligent guy. I think the combination of those things is what made him a great pilot.” In December of 2005 Eric was deployed for his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Noel Totten said his brother “loved what he did” and “the service kept promoting him and challenging him with new missions.”

Outside of the military, Eric was known for his humble personality and sense of humor, said his sister Judi Jackson. He didn't spread the news when he won a "Ranger of the Year" award in the late 1990s or say much about his visits to the mother of his friend who had committed suicide as a teenager. He sent his nieces, nephews and cousins postcards from all over the world after learning that they collected them. "He was so spontaneous," said Jackson, who lived in Oklahoma City. "He really loved life. He enjoyed it to the fullest."

On May 5, 2006, 34 year old Eric William Totten and nine others were lost when the Chinook helicopter he was piloting fell into a ravine during a mountaintop landing in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

Funeral services were held at United Methodist Church in Augusta, Kansas and interment followed at Elmwood Cemetery in Augusta.

Eric Totten was survived by his stepmother, Tommy Totten; his brothers Noel of Bloomington, MN; Otis of New Orleans, LA; and Jim of Tallahassee, FL; and his sisters Judi Jackson of Oklahoma City, OK; and Thais Hinz of Duluth, MN.