The widow of an Alabama airman killed when a U.S. refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq last week says her family’s “world shattered” after learning he was aboard the doomed aircraft.
Major Alex Klinner, 33, left behind 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son when the KC-135 Stratotanker he and five other crew members were aboard Thursday to support the U.S. war against Iran crashed, his brother-in-law James Harrill told the Associated Press.
“On March 12, our world shattered,” his wife, Libby, wrote on Instagram. “I’m devastated to lose the best person I know, the person that made everything more fun, my best friend.”
Klinner, who graduated from Auburn University in 2016, was promoted to major months earlier, and had only been deployed for about a week when he died.
“My heart is broken for our three kids who will grow up not knowing him,” Libby wrote on Instagram.
His grief-stricken wife noted their three children won’t get to “see how goofy and funny he was.”
“They won’t witness his selflessness, the way he thought about everyone else before himself,” she added. “They won’t get to feel the deep love he had for them. … He was an incredible person and husband, but he was the best dad.”
Klinner served in the Air Force for eight years; his sister-in-law, Sarah Rose Harrill, wrote on a GoFundMe that had received more than 1 million in donations as of Sunday morning.
“Alex was more than a serviceman,” she wrote. “He was a devoted husband, a loving father, and the kind of person who would quietly step in to help anyone who needed it. He embodied what it means to be a servant leader. His loss has left an immeasurable void in the lives of all who knew and loved him.”
He was also remembered as an avid outdoorsman who loved hiking and helping others.
“Alex was one of those guys that had this steady command about him,” Harrill told the AP. “He was literally one of the most kindest, giving people.”
All six crew members aboard the aircraft died when it crashed over Iraq on Thursday. The incident involved two aircraft in “friendly airspace” during President Donald Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, according to U.S. Central Command.
Military officials stressed that the crash was “not due to hostile or friendly fire,” and that the other plane landed safely. The circumstances surrounding the crash remained unclear Sunday.
The other airmen on board were identified as Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Moorseville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio.
Klinner, Savino and Pruitt were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. Meanwhile, Koval, Angst and Simmons were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing At Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio.
“Alex, Ashley, and Ariana are, and always will be members of the 117th family,” Col. Mike Adams, 117th Air Refueling Wing commander, said in a statement. “Even though they were not members of the Air National Guard, to us they will always be remembered as Vulcan refuelers and Alabamians.”
Members of the 121st Air Refueling Wing in Ohio said on Facebook they share “sorrow of their loved ones, and we must not forget the valuable contributions these Airmen made to their country and the impact they have left on our organization.”
Simmons served as a boom operator who transferred fuel from the tanker to the receiving aircraft, according to his Air Force biography.
The 28-year-old service member’s mother, Cheryl Simmons, said Saturday that the family was making funeral arrangements for her son.
“Tyler’s smile could light up any room, his strong presence would fill it. His parents, grandparents, family and friends are grief-stricken for the loss of life,” Simmons’ family said in a statement to WCMH-TV in Columbus.
Koval was an aircraft commander of 19 years. He graduated from Purdue University and served in the Indiana National Guard before transferring to the Ohio-based unit in 2017, according to his Air Force biography.
Angst was a pilot with 10 years of service who graduated from the University of Cincinnati, according to his Air Force biography.
A retired fighter pilot who worked alongside Savino remembered her as a “good human” who “smiled every time she came into my office,” KOMO News reported.
Savino graduated from Central Washington University in 2017 and earned her active duty commission through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps.
The 31-year-old became a pilot within the Air Force in 2025. She deployed twice, once in 2020 and once in 2026, according to the report.
The crash brings the U.S. death toll from Operation Epic Fury to at least 13 service members. The seven other service members killed died in combat.
Additionally, about 140 service members have been injured in the war, the Pentagon said last week.
Meanwhile, at least 1,348 civilians have been killed in Iran since the war began last month, the country told the United Nations last week. Officials in Lebanon said 826 people have been killed, and at least 12 have been killed in Israel.
