12:40pm UPDATE: A memorial will be held Tuesday for Air Force S/Sgt. Christopher Frost, a member of the 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office at Kirtland Air Force Base who was killed March 3 in a helicopter accident in Iraq, The Associated Press reported.

The service will begin at 9 a.m. in the base chapel, according to Jillian K. Speake, public affairs director at Kirtland AFB.

Gov. Bill Richardson today signed an executive order for flags to fly at half-staff from Monday to sundown Tuesday in honor of Air Force S/Sgt. Christopher Frost, 24, who died in Iraq on March 3, the Governor's Office said in a news release.

Frost, who was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, was Kirtland's first Operation Iraqi Freedom casualty, according to the release.

Frost and seven members of the Iraqi Air Force died when the Russian-made Mi-17 Iraqi helicopter in which they were riding went down in bad weather south of Mosul in northern Iraq, the Albuquerque Journal reported last week.

While at Kirtland Frost worked in the base's public affairs office, and in Iraq he edited a magazine for the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq and escorted members of the media around the country, the Journal reported. 

"Staff Sergeant Frost served his country with honor and dignity," Richardson said in the release. "My condolences go out to his family, friends and the Kirtland Air Force Base community."

Frost grew up in Waukesha, Wis., and enlisted in the Air Force after graduating from Mukwonago High School in Wisconsin, the release said.

He is survived by his wife, Ashley; daughter MacKenzie; son Mitchel; stepdaughter Trinity; his parents, Garry and Bridget Frost; and grandparents Marjorie Strabel, Mary Jean Frost and Galen Kurth, according to the release. 

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