Celebrating the angels and role models who make this world a better place.
Profiles En-Courage-ment
Young Lives Sacrificed
Posted in Role model on the Nov 12, 2007
When the photos of the fallen soldiers are displayed at the end of the Jim Lehrer News Hour, I can’t help but focus my attention on their ages. These men and women seem to me to be too young to die. But I am impressed that while they are so young they were able to find something in their life that was truly worth dying for.
I was particularly taken by Marine Captain Jennifer J. Harris. At a very young age Jennifer Harris wanted to become a pilot. In high school, she saw the Naval Academy as the means to achieve her goal of becoming a pilot. She worked hard in school graduating fifth in her class and worked to prepare her body for the grueling demands of entering Annapolis.
Captain Harris was the first female Marine helicopter pilot to do a tour in Iraq as a member of the elite Purple Foxes unit. Her moniker was “The Dove.” Rather than fly attack missions, she flew missions to retrieve wounded US soldiers.
She died on February 7, 2007 when the helicopter she was flying was shot down in Iraq by an IED and crashed with six others aboard. Video of the crash was being distributed by insurgents for propaganda purposes. Pilots who have watched the footage underscore the mettle of Captain Harris as she tried to keep the helicopter level as it fell out of the sky and tried her best to save all aboard.
Marine Captain Jennifer J. Harris lived her life with the passion needed to fulfill a hero’s dream.
To read more about this brave hero you can go to the links below -
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7407239
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/2552616.html
http://www.wickedlocal.com/homepage/8998920279337992191