Hometown: College Station, TX
Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
Military Honors: Air Medal with Strike/Flight Device, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2)
Date of Sacrifice: January 14, 2016 - Waimea, Oahu, Hawaii
Age: 41
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

Shawn Campbell was born in Orange, California—30 miles southeast of Los Angeles—on September 2, 1974. His family relocated to Houston, Texas, where Shawn attended Klein High School.

Campbell studied at Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas. There he met his future wife, Kelli (Day). The two started dating during their junior year when Shawn asked Kelli to go mountain biking. A month later, they were engaged. The Campbells were married in College Station on August 19, 2000, and would later welcome four children: Tristan, Kenna, Kate, and Donovan.

Campbell joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1999. He graduated from Texas A&M in April of 2001 with a degree in microbiology and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He completed his primary pilot training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, then helicopter pilot training at Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton, Florida. With his call sign, “NAFTA,” Campbell earned his gold pilot wings in December 2003, realizing his dream.

In an interview with Folds of Honor, Campbell’s wife Kelli remembers:

Shawn wanted to be a pilot. From the time he was young, he loved flying in airplanes. Shawn flew the CH-53E [Super Stallion] helicopter, which is the biggest helicopter the Marine Corps has. And it’s a heavy lift, so the Squadron [463] patch has a Pegasus on it…they were known as Pegasus, and he loved it. He called flying it “monkey skills” because it takes your whole…legs, and arms, and brain, and everything. We have a mug that says, “Helicopters don’t fly, they beat the air into submission.”

Campbell reported to Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina. In April of 2005, he deployed with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) Amphibious Ready Group—in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Two years later, Campbell was promoted to captain and deployed a second time in 2007, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines to serve as a Forward Air Controller in northern Iraq.

In 2008, Campbell transferred to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 366 based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, where he served as pilot and squadron Aviation Safety Officer. While there, he deployed to Iraq a third time.

Campbell returned stateside and completed Expeditionary Warfare School in Quantico, Virginia in 2010. He then became an instructor pilot at Marine Aviation Training Support Group 21 in Pensacola, Florida, and was promoted to the rank of major.

From Pensacola, he transferred to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe Bay. There he served with Marine Aircraft Group 24 as the Future and Current Operations Officer and as Exercise Officer. He joined Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 in 2015 as the Director of Safety and Standardization and the Aircraft Maintenance Officer.

On January 14, 2016, the tight-knit military community at Kaneohe Bay was rocked with the news that two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters had crashed while performing a routine night-training mission near the north shore of Oahu.

Twelve Marines were lost, including Maj. Shawn Campbell, who was 41 years old.

“Shawn was so kind,” Kelli recalled, “He wasn’t your [stereotypical] hard-headed, angry Marine. He was kind, and soft-spoken, and gentle, and fun. He loved to have fun. People just knew him as…people remember him as…being so kind.”

According to his family, Maj. Campbell was fully devoted to his family and had a deep faith. Campbell led Bible studies in his home, served as a deacon at Harvest Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and played his guitar with the worship team at Trinity Church Central Oahu. “He truly loved teaching and mentoring the next generation of Naval Aviators.”

In an interview with Lisa Appelo, Kelli Campbell describes the day before the accident:

And as can happen on any ordinary day in a household of six, we found ourselves suddenly in the midst of bickering and grumpiness. Even in paradise, kids get tired, attitudes break down, parents lose patience, words become unkind—life gets ugly. Shawn was dressed in his flight suit, getting ready to head into the squadron to prep for a flight later that night, but he paused.

We were in chaos, and he wasn’t going to leave us like that. I can still hear his voice calling for everyone to gather in the living room. There was no lecture, no scolding. He joked with the kids and calmed everyone down, and then he took my hand and prayed. Just a simple, ordinary moment of family prayer. A collective breath. I clearly remember him asking God to help us love one another well.

That moment sums up Shawn as a husband and father and leader. He was kind, gentle, and patient. With his simple prayer, he re-instilled peace, he made us smile—he reminded us of who we are.

Sources
Photo and story details provided by Ms. Kelli Campbell-Goodnow, Maj. Campbell’s Gold Star Wife.
Dignity Memorial: Major Shawn Matthew Campbell USMC
Star Advertiser, Jan. 22, 2016: Marines killed in crash remembered at memorial service
Lisa Appelo—Interview with Kelli Campbell: A Marine’s Widow: What We Remember on Memorial Day
Folds of Honor Presents the Story of the Campbell Family (Video)
Aggie Network News, March-April 2016: In Memoriam: Maj. Shawn Campbell ’01
Burial Site: Find a Grave

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