Erik S . Kristensen Erik S . Kristensen ( March 15 , 1972 – June 28 , 2005 ) was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy SEALs who was killed in action during Operation Red Wings . He and several other SEALs set off as part of a search and rescue mission , hoping to assist a four man SEAL team that was engaged in a firefight with Taliban fighters . Biography . Kristensen was born into a military family . His father , Edward Kristensen , is a career officer in the United States Navy who rose to the rank of Rear Admiral . As his father was in the military , Erik ' s family traveled widely with his family as a child , living in such places as Japan , Guam and Washington , D . C . , among others . Erik Kristensen graduated from Gonzaga College High School in Washington , D . C . in 1990 , and continued his education at Phillips Academy ( Andover , Massachusetts ) before moving on to the United States Naval Academy where he majored in English . After graduation in 1995 , he was commissioned an Ensign and served in the engineering department of the USS " Chandler " in Everett , Washington . He attended the Graduate Institute at St . John ' s College in Annapolis , Maryland , while he taught English at the U . S . Naval Academy . He left both his graduate studies and teaching at the Academy to pursue Navy SEAL training . At age 27 , he was the oldest in his class to graduate from the program , and his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL was realized . Operation Red Wings . On June 28 , 2005 , SEAL Team 10 was assigned to a mission to kill or capture Ahmad Shah ( nom de guerre Mohammad Ismail ) , a high - ranking Taliban leader responsible for Taliban operations in eastern Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush mountains . The SEAL team was made up of Matthew Axelson , Danny Dietz , Marcus Luttrell , and Michael P . Murphy . Luttrell and Axelson were the team ' s snipers ; Dietz was the communications officer and Murphy the team leader . The four SEALs stumbled upon local Taliban forces and within an hour , they were engaged in an intense gun battle against a force of more than 150 enemy fighters . Murphy risked his life to get off an emergency message to his command . Of the four - man team , only Luttrell would survive . Upon hearing the cry for help a MH - 47 Chinook helicopter was dispatched with a force consisting of SEALs including Kristensen and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment " Nightstalkers " to rescue the team , but the helicopter was shot down by an RPG ; all 16 men on board the Chinook including Kristensen were killed . The battle was later called " the worst single day loss of life for Naval Special Warfare personnel since World War II . " In interviews , the Taliban leader Ahmad Shah maintained that his forces had set a trap for the American forces : " We certainly know that when the American army comes under pressure and they get hit , they will try to help their friends . It is the law of the battlefield . " Posthumous . Days after Kristensen ' s death was announced , California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a statement stating his deepest condolences to his family and friends and announcing that flags at the California State Capitol would be flown at half - staff in his honor . Kristensen ' s funeral mass ( Mass of Christian Burial ) was performed on July 19 , 2005 . His mother told the press her son would be buried in his Birkenstock sandals . He is interred at the U . S . Naval Academy Cemetery . Erik Kristensen Eye Street Klassic . A charity , the LCDR Erik S . Kristensen ' 90 , USN , Memorial Scholarship Fund , was created in Kristensen ' s honor after his death . The fund seeks to assist a Gonzaga College High School student whose family serves in the U . S . armed forces . The Erik Kristensen Eye Street Klassic is held annually to raise money for the scholarship fund .