UPDATE: NATO says troops are working to recover every last piece of a helicopter that crashed over the weekend in Afghanistan killing 30 American troops.

U.S. officials say insurgents shot it down as it swooped in to help army rangers.

The bodies of the fallen soldiers will soon begin their final journey home.

UNDATED (CBS) -- U.S. and Afghan forces are battling insurgents today in the region where the Taliban claims to have shot down a U.S. Army helicopter on Saturday killing 30 Americans.

The pain from the deadliest day for American soldiers in Afghanistan is being felt back home. Flags are flying in front of Michael Strange's Philadelphia house. His father says the 25-Year-old Petty Officer First Class loved his country, the service, and especially being a member of the elite Navy SEALs.

"He was intense, he was funny, had that dry humor, like Seinfeld." This was Strange's third tour in Afghanistan. Nebraska Army National Guardsman Sergeant Patrick Hamburger - had only been there two weeks.

They were among 30 U.S. troops killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down Saturday in Eastern Afghanistan. U.S. military sources say the SEALs were called in to help a team already under fire on the ground. The Taliban claims responsibility, but US officials have yet to confirm that.

Aaron Vaughn's grandmother called him a proud father and brave soldier, "He was such a good boy, and he loved his country enough to put his life on the line. And friends of John Brown--a Special Forces Medic--remember him as a hero.”

“I’m very proud of him and proud to say I’m a friend of his, and I’m going to miss him tremendously."

The soldiers' bodies will be flown to Dover Air Force base in Delaware later this week, where they will be met by their families, military brass, and possibly the President.

We have been getting a lot of calls here at the station about a Rockford Navy SEAL who died in the attack; just to clarify that victim, John Tumilson, is from Rockford Iowa: not Illinois.

ROCHELLE (WIFR) -- A local sailor who recently returned from a second tour in Afghanistan says Saturday's deaths hit a little too close to home.

Petty Officer Patricia Malone Kelley is a Rochelle native she was already at work early in the morning Saturday when the news came across a nearby television the worst had happened.

Kelley was able to spend the past month with her mother after returning home from her second tour in Afghanistan. An 11 year veteran of the navy, Kelley was shocked when she learned more than two dozen of her military brethren were killed. While she didn't know any of those lost personally her past experiences immediately overwhelmed her.

She said, "All of a sudden I just started crying. I've lost a few friends and that was a shock to know that that many people lost their lives and they were just like in my prayers automatically. I was just in shock and I was in tears."

Despite the violence over seas Kelley did tell me if asked to perform a third tour of duty she would sign up in a heartbeat.

While Kelley was in shock as a member of the military, she said her thoughts and prayers were now with the family members of those killed.