Oklahoma City – The top medical officer for U.S. troops in Iraq was among the 12 people killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Baghdad last weekend, a family member said.
Col. Brian D. Allgood, 46, had been serving in Iraq for about six months before the crash Saturday, said his uncle, Dr. Richard Allgood of Lawton. A Colorado Springs native, Brian Allgood graduated from Air Academy High School in 1978.
Pentagon officials confirmed his death Wednesday.
“Brian was a wonderful human being,” his mother, Cleo Allgood of Colorado Springs, told The Gazette. “He was a wonderful brother, son, husband and father. He just was a giving person who served his country.”
Richard Allgood said his nephew graduated from West Point in 1982 and from the University of Oklahoma Medical Center four years later. After that, he completed his residency at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and continued his career in the military.
“He just really was a wonderful young man,” Allgood said. “I think that he always wanted to be in the military, and I think that’s what he thought his life and function was going to be. I think he did it willingly. I don’t think he had any reservations about what he was doing.”
Brian Allgood’s death was first reported Tuesday by The Oklahoman on its website, NewsOK.com.
“My brother, who is his father and lives in Colorado, called me Sunday and said that he had been killed in Iraq. The information that I received is they were apparently shot down by a missile while in a helicopter,” Richard Allgood said.
The military said 12 soldiers were killed Saturday in a helicopter crash in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad and that an investigation continues into whether a shoulder-fired weapon caused the crash.
In more than two decades in the military, Allgood said his nephew had parachuted into Panama and had served as the commanding officer of the hospital at West Point. He was the commanding officer of medical facilities in South Korea for two years before being sent to Iraq, his uncle said.
“He was over all the hospitals and all the medical staff and all the facilities in Iraq,” Richard Allgood said.
Brian Allgood was mentioned in August in a USA Today article on how additional training had led to a drop in heat-related deaths by U.S troops in Iraq.
His wife and son were living in Germany, where he was due to be stationed in July, Allgood’s uncle said. He also had one brother and one sister.
His father and both his uncles served in the armed forces in Vietnam.
“He was the third-generation Allgood to go to OU medical school,” Richard Allgood said. “He was very athletic in school, and I think that’s where he got his interest in orthopedic surgery. He really liked the outdoors, fishing. He was a big OU fan.
“Apparently he was very well-respected.”
