Knadle, David Charles

David Charles Knadle was a 33-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 2 from North Richland Hills, Texas. He served as a pilot in the U.S. Army's Company B, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, part of the 1st Cavalry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade based at Fort Hood, Texas.

On November 20, 2019, Knadle was piloting an AH-64E Apache attack helicopter on a combat mission in support of Afghan forces in Charkh District, Logar Province. According to U.S. military officials, the helicopter was struck by enemy small arms fire and crashed. Knadle and another soldier, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kirk T. Fuchigami Jr., were killed in the incident.

Knadle's death occurred during Operation Freedom's Sentinel, the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan that succeeded Operation Enduring Freedom in 2015. The mission's stated objectives included training, advising, and assisting Afghan security forces and conducting counterterrorism operations against groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The Department of Defense announced the casualties the following day. Knadle's death was reported by multiple national news outlets, including The New York Times and the Associated Press, which listed him among the service members killed in Afghanistan that year.

Knadle was posthumously promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 3. He is memorialized on the Afghanistan War casualty lists maintained by the Defense Casualty Analysis System and by the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood.

David Charles Knadle was killed during Operation Freedom's Sentinel (ongoing since January 2015). See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Golden, Jonathan Joseph, Gonzalez, Jose Juan, Sanchez, Maria Victoria, Dawson, John Michael.

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