12-3-04 - KILLEEN, Texas (AP) Hundreds of mourners were expected at a Killeen church today. A memorial service is set for seven soldiers, including a Brigadier General from Oklahoma, killed when their helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from Fort Hood.

The group, assigned to the Fourth Infantry Division, was en route to Texarkana on Monday morning to inspect 225 Iraq-bound Humvees.

The Black Hawk -- flying through thick fog -- hit the support cables of a TV transmission tower whose red warning lights had been knocked out in a storm last week. The helicopter went down near Bruceville-Eddy.

Fort Hood officials expect a large crowd at the service at the Christian House of Prayer. The service was to feature speakers, the singing of hymns, scripture readings, a silent tribute, the playing of taps and a 21-gun salute.

Forty-nine-year-old Brigadier General Charles B. Allen from Lawton, Oklahoma is among the dead.

Also killed were: 26-year-old Captain Todd T. Christmas, 48-year-old Chief Warrant Officer/Five Douglas V. Clapp, 32-year-old Chief Warrant Officer/Two David H. Gardner Junior. Twenty seven-year-old Chief Warrant Officer/Two Mark W. Evans Junior and 29-year-old Specialist Richard L. Brown also died.