Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, 33, was coming home from Iraq on an emergency leave to attend the funeral of his mother when his helicopter was shot from the sky.

In three days, Donald Bucklew, of Darlington Township, lost his wife and his son.

"His mother and dad prayed every night that he would come home safe," said Jack Smith, of Point Marion, Fayette County, Ernest Bucklew's uncle.

The family tragedy started Friday afternoon. Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, was driving home from work at a warehouse when an aneurysm in one of the arteries leading to her heart burst. Her vehicle ran into the median of the road and she died.

Smith said Ernest Bucklew's wife, Barbara, went to the American Red Cross and put in a plea to get him home for the funeral. The couple lived in Fort Carson, Colo., with their two sons, Justin, 6, and Joshua, 4. Smith said the Army agreed to get him to Fort Carson, but that he would have to get to Pennsylvania on his own.

The plan was that Ernest Bucklew would pick up his family and they would all come to Pennsylvania to attend the funeral.

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The CH-47 Chinook he was aboard was one of two helicopters flying out in formation from an air base in Habbaniyah, Iraq, yesterday carrying troops to Baghdad on route for rest and recreation leaves.

In flight, two missiles streaked into the sky from a ground position and slammed into the rear of the helicopter, witnesses told The Associated Press. It crashed in flames in farmers' fields west of Baghdad, killing 16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest strike against U.S. forces since they invaded Iraq in March.

"Two deaths in three days is hard. I'm scared to death for my brother-in-law," Smith said.

The family is close-knit, holding yearly reunions. One of Ernest Bucklew's cousins stayed with Barbara Bucklew last night. She and her children will return to Pennsylvania today.

Bucklew had recently e-mailed his uncle that the military was offering soldiers 10 days off in the States, but that he did not plan to come home because it would be harder for his children to see him for 10 days and then say goodbye again than to not see him at all, Smith said.

Ernest Bucklew grew up in Geneva, Fayette County, the son of a coal miner. Bucklew was about 13 when his family moved to Morgantown, W.Va., and he graduated from high school there.

After high school, Bucklew's family moved to Beaver County, where Donald Bucklew is an electrician for Duquesne Light Co.

Ernest Bucklew joined the National Guard after high school. About five years ago, his uncle said, he joined the Army. He and his wife moved to Georgia for two years, then to Colorado.

Yesterday afternoon Smith got the call from Bucklew's sister, Dawn Marie DeFelice, that his nephew had died when the helicopter was shot down.

"I can't find any reason for both of them going like this," he said.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete last night.