Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman

Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman

4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division

Attached to 1-22 Infantry

KIA September 14, 2006

In a memorial service held at Fort Hood on October 19, 2006
Staff Sgt. Angela Skillern spoke about Jennifer Hartman.
Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman, 21, was remembered as being "brave, smart, determined and hard-working,"
said Staff Sgt. Angela Skillern. She was "a big sister to those in her unit," Skillern said.

Pa. soldier, 21, killed in suicide bombing in Baghdad
Associated Press

NEW RINGGOLD, Pa. - An Army soldier from Schuylkill County who wrote in an online profile that she feared "getting blown up in Iraq"
was among three people killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad, the military and her father said.

Jennifer Marie Hartman, 21, was in her barracks at a west Baghdad electrical substation that her unit was guarding
when the Sept. 14 car bombing occurred, the Department of Defense said Friday.
Two other soldiers were killed and another 30 were wounded.

Hartman's parents, David and Bernice Hartman, were notified several days ago that their daughter might have been killed in the attack,
but a positive identification could not be made immediately. Her father said the Army confirmed her identity
through records of a previous foot injury.

The Tamaqua High School graduate entered the Army in July 2003 and was sent to Iraq in December 2005.

Hartman did not discuss with her family what she was doing in Iraq, her father said Friday.
Instead, he said, the Army sergeant would change the subject to her passion: all-terrain vehicles.

"She was into her four-wheeler - that's what she lived for," said David Hartman.
"I think she would rather have died on her four-wheeler than over there."

The soldier's profile on MySpace.com listed "going really fast (on a) car, bike, quad, JetSki" as the way she would want to die.
In the section for listing her fears, she wrote, "Getting blown up in Iraq."

Hartman was a cook assigned to the 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas.
Her company was attached to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Division, at the time of her death.

"The IED (improvised explosive device) detonated next to the sleeping building of the soldiers' operating base,"
said Capt. Warren Litherland, rear detachment commander for the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Division.
"She was inside the patrol base at the time of the explosion. She was not working at the time of the incident."

The soldier's remains were flown back to the United States earlier this week.
Her father said that funeral services are tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30.

CentreDaily.com

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/

**********************

SGT Jennifer Hartman's decorations

SPC Jennifer Hartman in Iraq

Jennifer Hartman
September 23, 2006
New Ringgold resident Jennifer Hartman was among three soldiers killed September, 14 2006
by a suicide car explosion in Baghdad, Iraq. Photo from her Myspace site. Courtesy of the family.

(Allentown Morning Call)

Last Updated: September 23, 2006
Soldier dies the death she said she feared

Jennifer Hartman, a Tamaqua high grad, is among three killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad
By Wendy Solomon and John J. Moser Of The Morning Call

Jennifer Marie Hartman, an exuberant Tamaqua High School grad who loved four-wheeling on all-terrain vehicles
and all things that go fast, never expected to end up in Iraq.

But she was making the best of it, four years into her five-year commitment to the Army.
She signed up right out of high school to get schooling to go into the medical field, said her dad, David Hartman
of West Penn Township. ''When she signed up to go for schooling, the gentleman promised she wouldn't go to Iraq,''
the father said Friday. ''If there was any chance in hell that she would go to Iraq, I wouldn't have signed that paper.
I guess even the Army lies to get you to sign up.''

Jennifer refused to talk to her family about what she was doing in Iraq.
Instead, the Army sergeant would change the subject to four-wheeling on all-terrain vehicles — her biggest passion in life.

''She was into her four-wheeler — that's what she lived for,'' her dad said.
''I think she would rather have died on her four-wheeler than over there.''

Indeed, Jennifer's MySpace profile listed ''Going really fast car, bike, quad, JetSki'' as the way she'd like to die.

Her fear? ''Getting blown up in Iraq.''

On Friday the military confirmed that Jennifer Marie Hartman, 21, was killed on Sept. 14 in a suicide truck bombing
while she was in her barracks at a west Baghdad electrical substation that her unit was guarding.
Two other soldiers were killed and another 30 wounded.

''The IED [improvised explosive device] detonated next to the sleeping building of the soldiers' operating base,''
said Capt. Warren Litherland, rear detachment commander for the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry.
''She was inside the patrol base at the time of the explosion. She was not working at the time of the incident.''

Hartman was a cook assigned to the 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas,
but stationed now in west Baghdad. Her company was attached to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, at the time of her death.
Hartman is the unit's seventh casualty in Iraq, Litherland said.

The time since the explosion has been horrific for her family, David Hartman said.

He said Army officials came to his door four days ago and told him they believed his daughter had been killed but weren't sure.

''I said, 'Do you tell all parents you think their child is dead but you're not sure?''' he said.
''For four days we've been sitting here praying to God it wasn't her. We were in tears, not knowing whether we should worry.
We were praying it was not the case, but in those days in between we're going crazy. I don't know how to explain it to you.''

He said the Army confirmed her identity through records of a previous foot injury.

Speaking haltingly, stopping frequently to compose himself, David Hartman tried to convey who his daughter was.

Jennifer was his first child, and her father said he feared he wouldn't have a son, ''so I made her into my little boy.''

''I always wanted a boy, so I figured I was going to do it with her,'' he said. ''We did everything together — fishing, tubing, skiing
— everything I could do with a kid I did with her. She was more of a tomboy. She was tough as a boy.''

When she was about 8, he said, he moved his family out of Allentown, where Jennifer was born,
to rural West Penn Township to give them a better life outside the city.

There, Jennifer — who became the oldest of three children — continued to excel at sports.

Hartman ran on the Tamaqua High School Blue Raiders girls track team from 2000 to 2002.
Teammate Danielle Butala recalled Hartman as a ''really great athlete.
She had a great spirit. She was always a good person.''

Hartman entered the Army in July 2003 and was deployed to Iraq in December 2005.
Since March, she worked as a food service specialist, the Army said.

Hartman received the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal,
Army Achievement Medal and Basic Marksmanship Qualification Badge.

Hartman's remains were flown back to the United States earlier this week for positive identification.

**********************

SGT Jennifer Hartman

One last goodbye to soldier
Family, friends say farewell to Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman

By Rebecca VanderMeulen
Reading Eagle

Friends and family gathered Saturday in West Penn Township, Schuylkill County,
for the funeral of Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman, who was killed in Iraq on Sept. 14.
They shared stories of an outspoken girl who wasn't afraid to argue with her grandmother,
a teenager who stunned her uncle by carrying a 100-pound bag of sand, and a high-school student
who good-naturedly teased a friend about her meticulous makeup.

Hartman, 21, joined the Army soon after graduating from Tamaqua High School in 2003.
She was one of three soldiers killed when a vehicle containing explosives blew up
near where they were stationed in West Baghdad, Iraq.

Mourners at the Hartman Funeral Home in West Penn said Hartman was a tough, spirited tomboy
who loved driving around the countryside on her four-wheeler.

Heather A. Hill first met Hartman in elementary school and never saw her in a dress.

“You could never find her,” said Hill, 21. “She was on her four-wheeler, her dirt bike.”

Hartman's uncle, Michael L. Hartman of Naples, Fla., said Jennifer joined the Army to earn money for college,
where she had planned to study nursing. Recently, Jennifer said on her personal Web site that she wanted to major in business.

“She wanted just an education from the service,” Michael said. “She just went to save her dad money.”

Last week, Michael said, Army representatives told the family about the attack. He said Jennifer's father, David,
tried in vain to reach his daughter on her cell phone.

“He was on the phone for at least eight hours, hoping it was a lie,” Michael said. “She was already dead.”

Jennifer last visited her family in West Penn while on leave in August. Her uncle, Scott A. Hartman,
said she didn't talk much about Iraq or her work running the mobile dining hall at Patrol Base Courage in Baghdad.

“She never said what she was doing over there,” said Scott, of Allentown. “She always wanted to change the subject.”

Ron R. Sebring of Easton paid his respects even though he had never met Jennifer.
The Vietnam War veteran was part of the 4th Infantry Division, of which Jennifer was a member.

And more than 100 men and women came on motorcycles to stand guard outside the funeral home,
carrying American flags. Many of their leather jackets bore patches recalling the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
or honoring Vietnam War soldiers who were prisoners of war or missing in action.

Some riders drove for hours from New York, Delaware or other parts of Pennsylvania, said Richard E. Marcks II,
mission captain of the Patriot Guard Riders. If families invite them, the group sends riders to funerals
to show respect and shield any protesters from view.

West Penn Patrolman Brian J. Johnson said the funeral home had received threats from Westboro Baptist Church
of Topeka, Kan., which sometimes sends anti-gay picketers to soldiers' funerals. But no picketers came Saturday.

But Marcks, an Army veteran from Allentown, said the Patriot Guard's main purpose is to show soldiers' families respect
which he said he did not get while on leave from the Vietnam War.

“It starts with one (person),” Marcks said. “Our strength is in our solidarity. Our power is in our silence.”

The riders took up much of the procession to Holy Saviour Cemetery in Bethlehem.

David Hartman sobbed as doves were released at the cemetery in memory of his daughter.

He sat next to his wife, Bernice, and their two other children, Katie L., 19, and Brian D., 17. Each of them held a red rose.

Maj. Gen. David H. Huntoon Jr., commandant of the Army War College in Carlisle, Cumberland County,
gave Jennifer's family the Bronze Star and Purple Heart she earned in Iraq.

“We stop and pause to think of the extraordinary sacrifice of Sgt. Jennifer Hartman,” Huntoon said. “We will not forget her courage.”

Later, Marcks stood in front of the motorcycle riders, David by his side.

“I present to you the father, the mother, and the family of a true American hero,” Marcks said.

The riders saluted.

Contact reporter Rebecca VanderMeulen at 610-371-5015 or rvandermeulen@readingeagle.com.

Reading Eagle http://www.readingeagle.com

Patriot Guard members and other supporters outside the funeral home in honor of Jennifer Hartman

photo from Patriot Guard Riders website:

http://patriotguard.org/

**********************

The Morning Call Online

http://www.mcall.com

Last Updated: October 1, 2006
Hundreds bid farewell to 'hero'

Family, friends of Sgt. Jennifer Hartman, who died in Iraq attack, recall a woman who loved life.
By Chris Parker Of The Morning Call

When an Army officer came to his home in West Penn Township and told him his daughter, Jennifer,
an Army sergeant, was missing in Iraq and presumed dead, David Hartman quickly called her cell phone.

Jennifer Hartman's phone only had 25 minutes of pre-paid time left.
''I was just praying to God to hear her voice: 'Pick up, pick up, please pick up,''' said David Hartman.

David Hartman kept calling. ''Then, there were no more minutes left,'' he said.

His daughter, his first-born, his smart, strong-willed, dirt-bike-riding, four-wheeling buddy,
the young woman who savored life to its fullest, died on Sept. 14 when a suicide truck bomber attacked her barracks,
killing Hartman and two other soldiers and wounding 30 others.

She turned 21 in May.

On Saturday, the Hartman family — her father, her mother Bernice, brother Brian and sister Katie —
said goodbye with a funeral service that drew hundreds of people and at least 100 bikers —
including the Patriot Guard Riders, the Soldiers' Angels, Wheels of Valor and the Leathernecks —
who held American flags as they stood shoulder to shoulder surrounding Hartman's Funeral Home,
on Route 309, a few miles from the family's house.

The funeral home owners are not related to Jennifer Hartman's family.

Inside the funeral home, mourners signed a large poster board covered with photos of Hartman with her friends.

''Jen, you are a hero to us all,'' Chris Coombe wrote.

Her medals — a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and a Good Conduct medal — lay on a table.
A large picture of her in uniform was beside the brass urn containing her remains.

Hartman's classmates from Tamaqua Area High School, who said they tried to talk her out of signing up,
gathered in small, tearful groups, the thought of never seeing her again too much for them.

''Just to see her smile. Just to see her be goofy,'' said Kenya Garcia, his voice trailing off.

Heather Hill remembered Hartman as determined to ''teach us how not to be girly-girls.''

Hartman razzed one classmate who applied makeup before each class.

''What are you doing that for? You don't need makeup. No one needs makeup,'' Hill recalled her friend saying.

Hartman had a way of ''saying something goofy'' that would make a downcast friend laugh, Hill said.

''She's probably looking down and yelling at us for getting dressed up and crying,'' Hill said.

Eyes glistening, she looked down. ''This is so hard…''

Hill last saw Hartman in July, when she was home on leave. Hartman came into the convenience store where Hill works,
saying she was headed off to ride her new four-wheeler.

At the service, Army National Guard Chaplain Bruce Farrell urged mourners to grieve, remember and hope.

He read from a letter Hartman wrote to her sister that illustrated Hartman's zest for life.
''It's not about what happened in the past. It's not about what might happen in the future,'' she wrote.
''It's about the ride, for Christ's sake.''

Following the three-hour viewing and service, mourners headed to Bethlehem,
where Hartman's remains were interred at Holy Saviour Cemetery.

There, Farrell read from the 23rd Psalm, and from a poem given to the family by Joan Moyer of Orwigsburg,
who didn't know the Hartmans but who lost her son in Vietnam. Moved by the news of Hartman's death,
Moyer called the family and asked to stop by with the poem.

The poem conveyed the message that Hartman is ''living in the hearts of those she touched.''

White doves were released, a rifle squad fired a salute and an American flag was folded and presented to her grieving parents.

Moments later, Hartman's parents clung to each other, sobbing as they placed red roses on the table holding their daughter's remains.

Patriot Guard Riders captain Richard E. Marcks presented them with a plaque, calling their daughter ''a true American hero.''

Photo from The Morning Call

Living life to its fullest

Above all, her father said, Jennifer Hartman ''just loved life.''

''She wanted everybody to have a good life,'' he said in an interview Thursday.
''She could talk to you and free you up and get you to smile. She had so much life in her you can't imagine.''

Jennifer Hartman's strong personality was evident from the start, her parents said.
She knew what she wanted and didn't stop until she got it.

She was born on May 21, 1985, in Allentown, where the family lived at the time.
She was the young couple's first child, born the same year they married.
The family moved to West Penn Township in 1994 so Jennifer and her siblings could grow up
away from the drugs and crime that come with city life.

A computer slide show created by her sister and played at the funeral showed a chubby, happy infant Jennifer,
a smiling toddler happily smeared with icing as she used both hands to devour her first birthday cake.

Later photos showed a bubbly preschooler, sitting on Santa's lap, nibbling a chocolate Easter bunny,
sitting astride a plastic toddler motorcycle, an enormous grin on her pixie face — a grin repeated in almost every photograph,
no matter where she was or what she was doing.

The photo was prophetic. Later in life, the family said, Jennifer came to adore anything with a motor.

After the family moved to West Penn, David Hartman bought his children dirt bikes, go-karts and all-terrain vehicles.

And Jennifer was happiest on wheels.

Photographs show her with a line of at least 20 dirt bikes in front of the family's garage, and riding all-terrain vehicles.

While Jennifer was light-hearted, she also was responsible, her parents said.
She quickly paid off her new car and saved her money. But before leaving for Iraq on Dec. 15,
she came home in search of the perfect ATV, David Hartman said.
And after looking in several shops, she finally found it — a sleek white model.

''She said, 'If I don't get this four-wheeler, and something would happen [in Iraq], I'd be really mad,''
' the father recalled her saying. ''We went right down and picked it up.''
The vehicle sits in the garage now. David Hartman said he plans to have a glass case made for it.
''I could never sell it,'' he said.

Jennifer was so enamored of engines, David Hartman said, that she chose the properties and manufacture of automotive oil
as a school science project.

Jennifer and her father were close.

''Everything I did, she was right there,'' the father recalled. ''She had no fear.''

Their daughter was never a ''girly-girl,'' the Hartmans said.

Her mother recalled that she enrolled her daughters in dance classes when Jennifer was about 5.
She loved to dance, but loathed the frilly, flouncy costume she had to wear for a performance.

''She wanted no part of that because it was a dress,'' Bernice Hartman said with a chuckle.

''I'd tell her to smile for the picture, and she'd say, 'No!' '' David Hartman said.

Jennifer grew up playing baseball — she was the only girl on her first team —
basketball, running track and riding her beloved ATV's and dirt bikes.

She listened to rock music, loved her mother's homemade mashed potatoes and halupki, and excelled in school, effortlessly.

''She was really good in school,'' Katie Hartman said.

''I never saw that kid crack a book, but she was in honors classes,'' David Hartman said. ''I don't know how she did it.''

Finishing what she started

The Hartmans said they wanted Jennifer to attend Lehigh Carbon Community College,
but the strong-willed young woman had made up her mind that she wanted to reap the benefits of a stint in the Army
before going on to open a motor sports shop or sell real estate.

Jennifer signed up while she was a student at Tamaqua Area High School.

David Hartman says the Army recruiter who came to their home assured the family Jennifer would not go to Iraq.

''I told him I would not sign those papers'' unless he could promise she would not be sent to Iraq, the father said.
The recruiter, whose name the family did not want published, insisted she would not be sent, the Hartmans said.

Hartman left for the Army in July 2003 after graduating. She started out aiming for a medical career, but ended up as a cook.

She went to Iraq on Dec. 15, and was nearly through a one-year tour.

She enjoyed Army life, ''especially driving the Humvees,'' her father said.

Like many young people, Hartman created a personal page on the popular Internet site MySpace.com.

Her MySpace profile confirms her family's descriptions of her.

''I think I'm pretty down to earth,'' she wrote. ''[But] I'm a quite loud person, all wrapped into one.
It takes a lot to get the loud part out of me but once you get to know me, you'll see what I am talking about.
I love jet skiing, ATVing, wakeboarding, shopping and just chilling.

''I can't stand staying still for too long.''

She last updated her Web page on May 27, and was looking forward to her return home and final years in the Army.

''Two more left till I get to go back to Pa. and go to school,'' she wrote. ''I plan on majoring in business
but hey that's still pretty far off so I'll let ya know how that goes. I have been in Iraq since December 15
and am just around the half-way point till I get to come back to the states, seems like ages away.
But hey I signed the dotted line and I am going to finish what I started.''

Hartman's family said they last spoke to her on Sept. 3. In that phone call, Hartman assured her worried parents she was safe.

''I'm in a power plant building; these idiots can't blow me up here,'' her parents said she told them.

The day before she was killed, Hartman mailed a letter to her sister.

''i [sic] recently moved to this crappy hole in Iraq,'' she wrote. ''It's actually a power plant that the infantry are keeping safe.''

Hartman's eager anticipation at coming home in November made it easier to cope with lack of water.
She said she ''showered'' using a case of bottled water.

''This deployment is almost over, so I have to make do. Yippee!'' she wrote. ''So yeah, I can't wait to be home for awhile.''

chris.parker@mcall.com

610-379-3224

Patriot Guard Riders line up outside the funeral home to honor SGT Hartman

photo courtesy of John McKee

Hundreds of people pay respects to New Ringgold woman killed in Iraq

Sunday, 01 October 2006
By JILL C. WHALEN
Standard-Speaker

Hundreds of people turned out Saturday morning to pay their respects to U.S. Army Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman,
a New Ringgold woman who was killed Sept. 14 in Iraq. Those who attended the funeral services at the Hartman Funeral Home,
1791 West Penn Pike (Route 309), West Penn Township, remembered the 21-year-old as a woman who had a zest for life
and was always eager to lend a helping hand to those in need.
Hartman, a 2003 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, was one of three American soldiers killed
when a suicide car bomber rammed into an Army barracks at a West Baghdad electrical substation her unit was guarding.
Thirty additional American soldiers were injured.
“Jennifer Marie was a loving and caring daughter, sister and friend who was the spirit and lifeblood of our family,”
the Hartman family said in a statement, which was read by Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver,
public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania National Guard. “She lived for her family and friends, the outdoors,
and for driving her four-wheeler on Pennsylvania’s rolling hills. We miss her so much and we will always long for her,
but we believe that she died trying to help others gain their freedom. She was a true patriot.”
The Hartmans also offered their condolences to the families of Sgt. Aaron Smith of Killen, Texas,
and Cpl. Marcus Cain, Crowly, La., who were also killed in the attack.
Hartman was a cook assigned to the 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Hartman’s parents, David and Bernice Hartman, had said they wished many from the community and beyond
would attend the services for their daughter.
So many turned out that shuttle buses had to be used to transport attendees from a parking area at nearby Zion Stone Church
to the funeral home. A number of students from Hartman’s high school class attended the services.
Among them were Agustin Gomez and Mary Lichtenberger.
Gomez remembered Hartman as an intelligent girl who helped him with his math and language courses.
“She helped me pass,” he said. The two also ate lunch together while in high school, but lost touch for a time after graduation.
Hartman, who had a MySpace profile on the Internet, later located Gomez, and the two rekindled their friendship through e-mails.
“I always tried to make her laugh,” said Gomez, who recalled Hartman’s sense of humor.
Gomez last spoke to Hartman about a month ago, and said he told her to “be careful” because his cousin was killed in Iraq.
“She was a good friend to all of us, and she will be greatly missed,” Lichtenberger said.
Another of Hartman’s classmates, Ian McGregor, lived just six houses away.
McGregor said he moved to his house on Tower Road as a sixth-grade student.
“She was the first person I talked to,” McGregor said, recalling his days as the “new kid.”
“She accepted me right away and we were cool.”
The two quickly struck up a friendship and would frequently ride their four-wheel all-terrain vehicles
on the hills near their homes.
McGregor recalled a time when his brother was hurt while riding his ATV with Hartman and a group of friends.
“Jennifer took care of him right away,” he said.
When the Hartman family received news of their daughter’s death, McGregor said that her father promptly wheeled her cherished ATV
to the front yard. Atop of the ATV, he placed his daughter’s picture.
“We just started crying,” McGregor said.
Hartman, whose passion was riding ATVs, would have been pleased to know
that about 200 individuals from motorcycle groups showed at her funeral, said LTC Bruce Farrell, who officiated at the service.
Farrell said the high attendance showed the community’s care and support.
The motorcyclists set up a lengthy wall of flags on both sides of Route 309 to honor Hartman.
Richard E. Marcks, Allentown, is a permanent ride captain for the Fifth Division of the Patriot Guard Riders,
one of the groups that was represented.
“When the family came to the funeral home and they saw the wall of flags, they broke down in tears,” Marcks said.
Three divisions of Patriot Guard Riders from across Pennsylvania attended the services.
The group is invited to funerals by the family to both honor the deceased and to keep protesters at bay.
The Fifth Division, which represents Schuylkill County, provided an escort to the burial site at Holy Savior Cemetery, Bethlehem.
“Many of us here, when the mission is over, including me, break down,” Marcks said.
Other groups represented included the Wheels of Valor, Leathernecks Motorcycle Club,
Soldiers’ Angels, Red Knights, Patriots and Blue Nights.
Some motorcyclists traveled from as far as New Jersey, Delaware, New York and Maryland.
“I left at 4 a.m.,” said Brian Sharp of Riverdale, N.Y., a member of Soldiers’ Angels,
who explained that he wanted to honor Hartman. Sgt. Andrew Leibenguth, Tamaqua, who served in Iraq with the Marine Corps,
said he did not know Hartman, but turned out to show his respect.
“I was in tears,” said Leibenguth, who was injured in Iraq and medically discharged, upon arriving at the funeral home.
During the service, memories were read from Hartman’s sister, Katie, 19, and brother, Brian, 17.
Hartman’s siblings recalled her as an important fiber in the close-knit family.
Hartman had a “take-charge” attitude, the siblings relayed, and was a sister who led the two in games like miniature golf
and building tree houses. A number of area veterans groups, like Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8008
of Nesquehoning, arrived at the funeral. State Sen. James J. Rhoades also attended, as did Major Gen. David H. Huntoon, Jr.,
commandant for the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle. Flowers were sent to the funeral home by Gov. Ed Rendell
and his family, and area veterans’ groups.
Following the prayer service, Hartman’s remains were taken to the Holy Savior Cemetery, Bethlehem,
for burial with full military honors.
Contributions may be made in Hartman’s name to an educational trust fund for her siblings, Brian and Katie Hartman,
c/o the Hartman Funeral Home, 1791 West Penn Pike, Route 309, New Ringgold, PA 17960.

Standard Speaker

http://www.standardspeaker.com

Birth: May 21, 1985
Allentown
Lehigh County
Pennsylvania, USA
Death: Sep. 14, 2006
Baghdad, Iraq

Army Sgt Hartman was assigned to the 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Hartman was killed in a suicide truck bombing while she was in her barracks at a west Baghdad electrical substation
that her unit was guarding. The IED [improvised explosive device] detonated next to the sleeping building of the
soldiers' operating base. She was inside the patrol base at the time of the explosion and was not working at the time
of the incident. Jennifer was a 2003 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School where she ran on the girls' track team.
She loved outdoor activities including four wheeling on all-terrain vehicles, jet skiing and knee boarding. When she graduated
from high school, she entered the Army in July 2003 to get schooling to go into the medical field. Her unit was deployed
to Iraq in December 2005 and since March she worked as a food service specialist. She was scheduled to return home
from Iraq on November 10. She received the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal,
Army Achievement Medal and Basic Marksmanship Qualification Badge. On Jennifer's Myspace profile she listed
"Going really fast car, bike, quad, JetSki" as the way she'd like to die. Her fear? "Getting blown up in Iraq".

Burial:
Holy Saviour Cemetery
Bethlehem
Northampton County
Pennsylvania, USA

Flowers and flags at the grave location for Jennifer Hartman before her grave marker was emplaced

Photo by Brenda M from the Find A Grave website

Grave marker for Jennifer M. Hartman

Photo by Deb C from the Find A Grave website

**********************

Remembering a hero, big sister

Friday, January 18, 2013

Plaque displayed in honor of SGT Jennifer Hartman

By ANDREW LEIBENGUTH aleibenguth@tnonline.com

Ed Smith, District 13, American Legion, and Katie Hartman unveil the memorial plaque
for Jennifer Hartman during the remembrance service.

Tamaqua American Legion members continued their mission of "never forgetting veterans" during a remembrance and plaque unveiling service held in honor
of a West Penn Township soldier killed in Iraq in 2006.

United States Army SGT Jennifer M. Hartman, 21, was remembered by fellow veterans and family members during an emotional remembrance service held at the post.

Hartman was killed Sept. 14, 2006, after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the vicinity of a West Baghdad electric substation where she was located.
Two other soldiers were killed and another 30 were wounded.

"The IED (improvised explosive device) detonated next to the sleeping building of the soldiers' operating base," said Capt. Warren Litherland, rear detachment commander
for the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Division. "She was inside the patrol base at the time of the explosion."

A Tamaqua graduate, Hartman, who entered the Army in July 2003, graduated Basic Combat Training at Ft. Jackson, S.C., and Advanced Individual Training
at Ft. Lee, Va. Upon graduation, Hartman was assigned to Echo Forward Support Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team,
4th Infantry Division. In December 2005, she deployed with the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Hartman served as a cook
with the 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas. Her company was attached to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry,
at the time of her death.

"I am very grateful that she is remembered in her hometown," said Katie Hartman (Jennifer's sister) as she wiped away tears from her eyes.

During the service, Legion and family members spoke about Hartman's impact on the world, recalling prior quotes from friends and family.

"She'll be remembered as being brave, smart, determined and hard-working," said Staff Sgt. Angela Skillern in a memorial service held at Fort Hood on Oct. 19, 2006.
"She was a big sister to those in her unit."

Family members spoke about her love for family, having fun and riding fast, to include riding four-wheelers, cars, bikes and even a jet ski.

"I think she would rather have died on her four-wheeler than over there," said father David Hartman during a prior service. Sadly, in the fears section
of Hartman's Facebook page, she listed it as, "Getting blown up in Iraq."

A plaque unveiled during the service shows Hartman smiling next to a group of Iraqi children.

"Not thinking about herself, Jennifer would give the children all her food," added Katie Hartman. "She loved to be around the children."

Hartman's awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Cluster's,
the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal,
the Army Service Ribbon and the Combat Action Badge.

A plaque unveiled during the service shows Hartman smiling next to a group of Iraqi children. "Not thinking about herself,
Jennifer would give the children all her food," said Katie Hartman. "She loved to be around the children."

From the Times News

Plaque for Jennifer M. Hartman on the 4th Infantry Division Wall of Honor at Fort Hood, Texas.

Photo courtesy of Bob Babcock

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