Fallen Seabee Fund

Jaime S. Jaenke

Friday, June 09 2006 @ 01:59 AM EST

www. desmoinesregister.com -- An Iowa Falls sailor is the first female Iowan to die in the war in Iraq.

Seabee Reservist Jaime Jaenke, 29, was killed in a roadside bomb attack Monday. She is the forty-second Iowan to die in Iraq and Afghanistan since March 2003.

Jaenke, 29, a Petty Officer 2nd Class, and an Illinois sailor were killed when the bomb exploded near their Humvee in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. J.G. Carlos Kirby said.

Also killed was Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Rovinski.

They were assigned to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.

The Navy identified Jaenke as being from Bay City, Wis., but an Iowa Falls funeral director said he is handling the funeral arrangements for her.

Jaenke had ties to Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, according to Minneapolis television station KARE.

Before joining the Naval Reserves, Jaenke worked as an emergency medical technician in Ellsworth, Wis., where her former colleagues say she was a great service to the community and will be sorely missed, the station reported.

Jaenke was activated in January and had been overseas for a few months before the attack.

Jaenke was a Seabee reservist who provided infrastructure support for combat officers, such as building airstrips and housing. Kirby said he didn?t know what the sailors were doing at the time of the attack.

School officials in Iowa Falls said Jaenke’s 9-year-old daughter Kayla has been enrolled at Rock Run Elementary School since spring 2004. They said Jaenke lived in Iowa Falls during her early childhood but graduated from a high school in Wisconsin.

She had only recently returned to Iowa after living for years in Minnesota and was excited about starting an equestrian business in Iowa Falls when she returned from Iraq.

Gary T. Rovinski

www.reviewatlas.com -- ROSEVILLE - The war on terrorism struck close to home when word that a Warren County man was killed while serving his country in Iraq.

Gary Rovinski, 44, of Roseville, became Warren County's first casualty in the war in Iraq. There are reports that Rovinski was killed by a roadside bomb, but the Department of Defense has yet to confirm that report. Two other men from the same unit were reportedly killed and two others were injured at the same time.

Rovinski was a Seabee in the United States Navy. He was with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion based at Fort McCoy. Rovinski served as an equipment operator.

Rovinski's unit went to the Rock Island Arsenal for training. The unit was deployed to Iraq on Jan. 31.

Few details have been released regarding Rovinski's death. No official press release has been issued from Rovinski's unit or the US Naval Reserves.

War is nothing new to the Seabees. The Seabees are the U.S. Navy's civil engineer corps. They have been involved in every war since WWII.

Rovinski's unit consisted of about 500 Seabees. Prior to his deployment Rovinski could not discuss the mission ahead, but said the Seabees did anything from building bridges and repairing roads to constructing schools and hospitals.

Those who knew Rovinski said the veteran was a hero. Rovinski was looking forward to going to Iraq in January. He was eager to serve his county, as well as bringing democracy to Iraq.

The Seabees was Rovinski's second military career.

He was in the Army during the first Gulf War as an eye specialist. He spent eight years in the U.S.Army and left the service at the end of the war.

Rovinski was working as a correction officer at the Henry Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg when some friends told him about the Seabees. Even though Rovinski never saw the classic John Wayne movie "The Fighting Seabees," he decided to join the naval reserves. He made a point to catch the film after becoming a "bee."

The military and service to country has always been important to Rovinski. In January he told the Review Atlas why he signed up for the Army as well as the Navy.

"I had an uncle that died in the war and when the holidays came up I'd go to the cemetery with my family and that sticks with you," Rovinski stated. "That kind of sticks with you and I wanted to give something back. I'm happy to serve. I know that freedom is not free and I'm trying to contribute some of what my family and other veterans have contributed before me. My uncle was just a kid - a teenager - when he was killed in World War II."

Rovinski's supervisor of the correctional center said Rovinski was "an extremely good man."

"He had a lot of passion with everything he did, he always stood up for what was right," said Sgt. Todd Frederickson with the Henry Hill Correctional Center. "He always had a great deal of caring for everything he did here as an officer. Gary was also a very caring family man who loved his wife and children a great deal. That is one of the things I admired most about him - he was such a good family man."

Rovinski leaves behind his wife and two children in Roseville.

Rovinski was the first seaman killed in Iraq. Rovinski may be the first casualty from Warren County, but he is not the first casualty from the region. McDonough County has lost four native sons while Knox County has lost two residents. Henderson and Mercer counties have not lost anyone in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Jerry A. Tharp

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (July 21, 2006) -- "His word was better than a contract," said Petty Officer 1st Class Glen E. Webster, the emotion evident as his voice caught on the words.

He was remembering not only his fellow sailor, but his friend, Petty Officer 1st Class Jerry A. Tharp, who was killed in action July 12, 2006, while conducting operations in the Al Anbar Province of western Iraq.

A memorial service was held at the base's main chapel here for his fellow service members to honor his sacrifice July 21, 2006, which included a picture presentation, along with a time for personal reflections and a ceremonial rifle salute following the playing of Taps.

Tharp was a Navy Seabee with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25, based out of Fort McCoy, Wis., and was working with the Marine Corps' 9th Engineer Support Battalion. He was remembered as a quality family man who took pride in his work, an infectiously humorous individual who loved to fix any machine in need of repair.

After the ceremony concluded, everyone in the audience was given the chance to pause and pay remembrance in their own moment of tribute to the fallen warrior.

Those who knew Tharp best honored him with letters read aloud on their behalf by Chief Petty Officer Ronald L. Genco, a 38-year-old native of Clinton, Iowa, and the leading CPO of the detachment.

"His whole life was infectious; to know him was to laugh," said Genco, reading from a letter. "He was a helpful, kind and caring man. I will miss him dearly and whenever I think of him, I will smile."

One of Tharp's fellow sailors back in the United States, having known him for nearly two decades, remembered him as one who "would give you the shirt off his back."

A close friend of Tharp's wrote, "He exemplified what a best friend should be. He was full of vibrant life, had a caring heart and possessed a unique outlook on life. Jerry had a gift for making friends with nearly everyone he met."

"Any loss like this is very difficult; however, this one is particularly difficult for many members of our unit," said Navy Lt. Timothy V. Bray. With NMCB-25 being a reserve unit, many of the sailors are from the same hometowns, some having worked for the same civilian company before being activated for deployment.

The proximity means close relationships for many within the unit, said Bray.

"The reservist Seabee community is a very tight one," he said. Many in the unit had known Tharp for over a decade.

Bray, the officer in charge of the NMCB-25 detachment here, said Tharp thoroughly enjoyed his role in Iraq.

Seabees are known as the Navy's construction force used on the frontlines throughout history to provide an enhanced construction and engineering capability to deployed forces. Arriving in Iraq in late spring this year, Tharp and his fellow Seabees settled in as a construction force tasked with a variety of projects for different units in what is arguably the most dangerous region of Iraq.

"He was working with concrete and he was doing a big thing to help others, and those were two things he dearly loved doing," said Bray, a 35-year-old native of Crosslake, Minn.

Nicknamed "Pumping Jerry" due to his work with concrete pumps in the civilian sector, Tharp was tasked with helping repair the numerous potholes and other craters from improvised explosive devices that "riddled our supply routes," said Bray.

"Although it wasn't glamorous, (Tharp's) work was essential to the overall mission accomplishment of Coalition Forces in Iraq," Bray said. "There's no doubt in my mind (his) work saved numerous lives."

He enlisted in the Navy April 21st, 1994, at the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center in Rock Island, Ill. He had previously served in the Army Reserve from 1978 to 1984.

He received numerous awards over the course of his career, to include the Purple Heart, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat "V", and the Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (three awards.)

Those who knew Tharp will miss him, but for a brief time they were able to come together and fondly remember him for the big grin ever-present on his friendly face.

Email Cpl. Redding at daniel.redding@cssemnf-wiraq.usmc.mi.

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