Base memorial service for pilot killed in crash

A memorial service is planned at his home base for a Massachusetts Air National Guard pilot killed in an F-15 jet crash in Virginia last week.

The service for Lt. Col. Morris Fontenot Jr. will be at 2 p.m. Sunday in the main hangar at Barnes Air National Guard Base. Base officials said Wednesday it will be open to military members, their families, and invited guests.

Fontenot, a member of the 104th Fighter Wing, died Aug. 27 when his jet went down near Deerfield Valley, Virginia. He was flying to New Orleans for a radar upgrade.

A public memorial was held Saturday in Longmeadow, where he lived with his wife and two daughters.

Fontenot will be buried in early October at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he graduated in 1996.