McHenry family mourns Army soldier killed in military helicopter crash

McHENRY – Family and friends are mourning the loss of a McHenry soldier who died in a military helicopter crash Wednesday.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin Mose Weiss is being remembered as a kind and dedicated soul who loved to help people and who loved his country. The military informed the family Thursday morning of his death.

“He was home just last week. He was home for Thanksgiving. The last thing he said was, ‘See you next month for Christmas,’” his mother, Susan Weiss, said.

Weiss, 32, was killed, along with a second pilot, when the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter they were flying out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, crashed during a training exercise, according to a news release from the 101st Airborne Division based there. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Weiss, the oldest of eight children, was known to his family and friends by his middle name of “Mose," which was the nickname of his grandfather. He was the reason he and his wife had more kids, his father, also named Kevin, said.

“He was fun. He was hardworking. He was loyal,” he said.

And he showed bravery and a want for adventure at a young age, according to his parents.

As a teenager working the concession stand at the McHenry Dam, Weiss watched as a boat of four fishermen capsized in waters made dangerously fast by spring rains, his parents said. Weiss got in his own boat and rescued them.

“He must have weighed 100 pounds, and he got four, 200-pound people into that boat,” Kevin Weiss said.

Susan Weiss called her son “the most honorable of young men” who had a big heart and took his role as big brother very seriously.

“Mose was so tender and so kind. He would always think of his siblings first. He was very fun-loving, very caring. That was his M.O.,” she said.

His sister, Sally Weiss, called her brother a rock the entire family could lean on when things got difficult.

“Kevin was the second father to everyone in this family. Every one of my siblings has a very special relationship with him. He meant so much to all of us,” she said.

Weiss attended McHenry public schools through fourth grade, and was then home-schooled until his sophomore year in high school. He then attended Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights and graduated in 2001. It was also in McHenry that he met his future wife, Beth, through the Christian youth group Awana.

He joined the Army at age 19, and married Beth the following year. After nine years working in intelligence, his father said, he decided to do something more adventurous. He ended up in aviation, Susan Weiss said, motivated by his grandfather, who was a pilot in World War II. Weiss went through the Army’s grueling Ranger school, and almost immediately after graduation went to flight school. He flew a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Besides his wife, Weiss leaves behind two children: Lucas Mose, 6, and Susan Jane, 4.

“I’m going to miss him, but I’m blessed to have had him,” Kevin Weiss said. “I know eternally he’s fine, but it’s going to stink not having him here.”