COMUSAFE mourns loss of Polish air chief

WARSAW, Poland -- Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, 3rd Air Force commander, salutes while the Polish national anthem is played during funeral services for Polish air force commander Gen. Andrzej Blasik April 28, 2010, in Warsaw’s Powazki cemetery. General Blasik died April 10 alongside Polish president Lech Kaczynski and many other top Polish military leaders when the Polish air force Tu-154 plane he was on crashed in a forest outside the military airport in Smolensk, Russia, en route to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre by the Soviet Union’s secret police. Generals Blasik and Gorenc worked alongside each other on numerous occasions, including working to establish sister wing arrangements to foster interoperability between units using similar equipment to ensure that the two air forces can effectively operate together to meet the goal of the alliance. (U.S. Air Force photos/Lt. Col. Pamela A.Q. Cook)