AREA MAN AMONG CHOPPER FATALITIES.

Byline: - Angie Valencia-Martinez

A 28-year-old Simi Valley sailor was among 31 troops killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq early Wednesday.

John Daniel House was the only Navy sailor on board the CH53E Super Stallion when it crashed in bad weather near the Syrian and Jordanian borders, military officials said. The rest were Marines.

His mother, Susan, and father, Larry House, a sheriff's deputy with Ventura County, flew to Hawaii on Thursday morning to be at the side of their son's wife, Melanie, and their newborn grandson, John Chase House.

On Wednesday, a stream of friends and family members visited the victim's family to offer their condolences, neighbors said.

``Larry was one of the first people in the country to have the yellow ribbon in his house,'' said sheriff's Deputy Vince Demarco. ``He was very proud of his son. His license plate reads 'NAVY DAD.'''

Friends described John House as a selfless, caring and compassionate man who risked his safety to protect his fellow soldiers.

The transport helicopter went down about 1:20 a.m. Wednesday and the cause is still under investigation.

House is a 1994 graduate of Moorpark High School who was stationed at Pearl Harbor, where he lived with his wife and son. John Chase was born on Christmas Eve. Deputies have set up a fund for Chase at the Ventura County Credit Union.

``There's a lot of sorrow around here,'' said sheriff's Deputy Scott Van Tassell. ``One of our deputies lost a brother, the other a son.''

Van Tassell was referring to the death Wednesday of Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Jim Tutino, 47, of Simi Valley, who was killed in Wednesday's Metrolink train crash in Glendale. Tutino's brother is a sheriff's deputy in Ventura County.

``Last night, I came after work and he told me, 'I'm really sad, my son was in the helicopter in Iraq,''' said neighbor Jose Guel, 50. ``They are a very nice family, very nice people. We're all really sad for them.''

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