JENNIFER J. HARRIS, CAPT, USMC
Jennifer Harris '00
Lucky Bag
From the 2000 Lucky Bag:
Jennifer Harris
Swampscott, Massachusetts
GI Jen is about as hard charging as they come whether it be work or play. Jen, take a minute to relax, things are going to be fine. Politically correct, but a real friend. Stress case but loveable. She's always there for you even if it takes up her work. Jen, where ya goin'? Aerobics, got to get in shape for TBS. Jen, what are you working on? My 70 pager that I had to redo because I know nothing about computers. Jen, need some help with Quattro Pro? Wicked hard worker. She's probably too smart to be a Marine, but she can sure drink like one. Want it and you can do anything I believe in you. - MTV, JAG
Best roommate in 3 years, Y.B., matty v's home video, birthday bash! Someone who you can always talk to, laugh with. Clubbing, and sharing wild stories about things no one else needs to know about, I love you girl.
Thanks for the memories, friends for life, keep in touch! -jen
Jennifer Harris
Swampscott, Massachusetts
GI Jen is about as hard charging as they come whether it be work or play. Jen, take a minute to relax, things are going to be fine. Politically correct, but a real friend. Stress case but loveable. She's always there for you even if it takes up her work. Jen, where ya goin'? Aerobics, got to get in shape for TBS. Jen, what are you working on? My 70 pager that I had to redo because I know nothing about computers. Jen, need some help with Quattro Pro? Wicked hard worker. She's probably too smart to be a Marine, but she can sure drink like one. Want it and you can do anything I believe in you. - MTV, JAG
Best roommate in 3 years, Y.B., matty v's home video, birthday bash! Someone who you can always talk to, laugh with. Clubbing, and sharing wild stories about things no one else needs to know about, I love you girl.
Thanks for the memories, friends for life, keep in touch! -jen
Loss
Jennifer was killed in action with insurgents when the CH-46 Chinook helicopter she was piloting was shot down northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on February 7, 2007. Six others aboard were also killed.
Obituary
From Captain Jennifer J. Harris, USMC Memorial Scholarship:
Captain Jennifer J. Harris graduated from Swampscott High School in 1996 and from the United States Naval Academy in 2000. Upon graduation from the Naval Academy, Captain Harris was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, graduated from The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, and earned her Wings of Gold on September 13, 2002. She was then assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Training (HMMT) Squadron 164 in Camp Pendleton, CA where she learned to fly the CH-46 Sea Knight Helicopter. Upon completing her training, Captain Harris was assigned to the Purple Foxes of HMM-364 and immediately deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom. HMM-364 is a legendary squadron known since the Vietnam War for repeatedly answering the call of duty flying in and out of combat areas where no other helicopter squadron would go because of the danger. During her time in the HMM-364, she attended The Weapons and Tactics Instructor’s Course (WTI), the Marine equivalent to Top Gun training. Captain Harris was the first female pilot in the Purple Foxes Squadron.
Jennifer was a sailing enthusiast who enjoyed sailing the Atlantic Ocean from both her hometown of Swampscott and her college town of Annapolis, Maryland. She worked and sailed in the Swampscott Recreation Commission Sailing Program and was a member of the United States Naval Academy Intercollegiate Sailing Team, sailing 420s.
Jennifer had a profound interest in government and earned a departmental award while a political science major at the Naval Academy. Her interest in government began while growing up in Swampscott and was enhanced as an intern in Congressman Peter Torkildsen’s Office.
Service to others was the core value guiding Captain Harris. Over the years, this value was demonstrated through her compassion for people and by a range of activities. While at Swampscott High School she participated in Toys for Local Children, a program for needy children. Later, as a Midshipman at the Naval Academy, she organized a similar program for children in the Annapolis area. Jennifer was also a volunteer at Salem Hospital, the Swampscott Public Library, and My Brother’s Table as well as being active in Multiple Sclerosis Walk-a-thons. Her service to others extended beyond organized activities and Jennifer’s kindness was notable through informal mentoring relationships with young people, relationships that often occurred through e-mail with people she didn’t know in person but who reached out to her and she responded.
Jennifer’s commitment to service was most evident in her decision to serve our country. As a Marine, she combined this commitment with her sense of compassion to be one of the best CH-46 pilots in the Marine Corps. She performed her military duties as a Casualty Evacuation pilot flying in and out of combat areas for the emergency evacuation of injured soldiers and Iraqi citizens, saving a countless number of lives.
Captain Harris served three tours of duty in Iraq and was killed in action on February 7, 2007 when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down.
Jennifer was survived by her parents and fiancé. She is buried in Massachusetts.
Photographs
From Travis Manion Foundation
From "The Veterans Site"
From "The Veterans Site"
From "The Veterans Site"
From "The Veterans Site"
From "The Veterans Site"
Memorials
The Captain Jennifer Jean Harris Memorial Trust Fund honors the life of Captain Harris and promotes leadership development in young adults who exemplify her qualities of courage, honor, compassion, and commitment to serving others. The Trust provides financial assistance for college or military expenses through annual scholarships. Selected candidates, by way of their demonstrated good citizenship, participation in community service, and kindheartedness perpetuate Jennifer J. Harris’ legacy of selfless service.
The Seven Stars Foundation was established in honor of the seven crew members of Jennifer's helicopter.
Swampscott High School in Swampscott, MA includes a memorial to Jennifer.
Marine Corps League Captain Jennifer J. Harris Detachment 871 is named for Jennifer.
Jennifer J. Harris Square is in Swampscott, MA; it was dedicated May 28, 2007.
From USNA Alumni Association on October 8, 2017:
Members of the Class of 2000 dinghy sailing team returned to Annapolis 6 October for a ceremony marking the renaming of the Navy Fall Women’s Sailing Championship as the Jen Harris Memorial Regatta. Lifelong sailing enthusiast Captain Jennifer Harris ’00, USMC, raced 420s at the Academy and continued sailing while awaiting flight school in Pensacola. She served three tours in Iraq piloting her CH-46, evacuating countless Marines and Iraqis and saving many lives along the way. She was killed in action in February 2007 when the helicopter she was piloting—ferrying blood to aid wounded Marines—was shot down.
The day after the renaming ceremony, which was also attended by several of Harris’ family members, college sailors representing 18 schools nationwide competed in Lasers, FJs and Harris’ choice, the 420. The Naval Academy came in 11th place in an event won by the College of Charleston.
A new granite plaque recognizing winners of the Jen Harris Memorial Regatta will be displayed in the Intercollegiate Sailing Hall of Fame on the second floor of the Robert Crown Sailing Center.
News
Jennifer and her crew were featured in a CNN piece in 2017.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030 reported on Jennifer's funeral service in February 2007.
Remembrances
From the Naval Academy Alumni Association's "In Memoriam" page:
Jennifer Harris exemplified the best of what this country has to offer. She had a passion for life and was a compassionate human being. Anthony Macone, family spokesman
From The Salem News on February 18, 2018:
11 years later, grief remains fresh for father of fallen Marine
By Arianna MacNeill
SWAMPSCOTT — Grief is supposed to get easier with time, or so we’re told. For Raymond Harris, so far that is not the case.
His daughter, Marine Capt. Jennifer Harris, 28, was killed 11 years ago this month when the Sea Knight helicopter she was piloting was shot down in Iraq. All seven people on board died in the crash.
“Every day is hard for me,” her father said. “People keep saying it’s going to get better and it doesn’t.”
The loss of his wife, Rosalie, just over a year ago made things more difficult. Rosalie’s health declined steadily, he said, after the death of the couple’s only child.
Sitting in an armchair in the home he once shared with his family, Raymond Harris still becomes emotional as he thinks about his daughter’s death and the community that has continued to support him.
He is surrounded by photos of his family. Most are of Jennifer as an adult. There’s a family portrait with her parents and another portrait with her fiance, Chris. On the windowsill of the large window at the front of the house is the last picture Harris received of his daughter; she is wearing her helmet and sitting in a helicopter pilot’s seat, smiling.
Among the few childhood photos is one of Jennifer’s First Communion. In another, she is happily sitting on her dad’s lap; Raymond Harris beams as he holds his little girl.
“I’ve got pictures all over the place,” he said. “Maybe I shouldn’t, but people say, ‘No, it’s your house. Do what you want, Raymond.’”
Raymond was looking out that living room window on the early evening of Feb. 7, 2007, when he learned of his daughter’s death. He’d just come home from work.
“I see this big van coming in the driveway there,” he said. “And I asked my wife, ‘Did you order something from UPS?’”
But he quickly realized, as he saw men getting out in military uniforms, some wiping their eyes, what he was about to find out.
Capt. Harris had died an hour earlier, military officials told them. She had volunteered for one last mission, ferrying blood for wounded Marines, just days before she was to return home after completing her third tour of duty in Iraq.
“The day that happened, it was like my whole system went down the tubes,” Raymond said. “I couldn’t eat for a week. It took a long time and it still takes a long time.”
Living with loss
Since his wife’s death, he has fallen into a routine that revolves around the wife and daughter he has lost. He gets up early and as he walks out of his bedroom, he says “Good Morning” to his wife and daughter.
After breakfast and some morning television he drives to the cemetery. He does this every day, and the town has since provided him a key just in case he’s there after it closes.
Usually he spends about 20 minutes talking to his family. Rosalie Harris was buried next to her daughter, and there’s a spot there for him, too.
“We’re all over there together,” he said, referring to himself as if he’s already joined his family there.
After leaving the cemetery, he often goes to the town’s senior center and has lunch with friends he has made there. He also goes to Swampscott High School sometimes where there’s a memorial to Jennifer Harris.
Jennifer, he said, was a smart, energetic young woman with an unparalleled sense of adventure. She loved sports, and she excelled at them.
“She loved to run,” he said. “I could never keep up with her.”
She had many friends and loved to travel. She also enjoyed driving, whether it was to see friends out of state or to drive home from California, where she was based.
Jennifer was a career military officer, and she loved it, her father said, though he’s not sure where that came from.
“She talked about the military when she was younger,” he said, noting that her maternal aunt lived in Washington, D.C., and the family would visit them.
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, she became a helicopter pilot with the Marines’ legendary Purple Foxes squadron. In Iraq, she flew missions to pick up wounded soldiers and take them to hospitals.
When she died, all her uniforms and other possessions were sent home to her parents. Raymond started to look through one of the boxes, but “I had to close it,” he said. “I can’t touch it.” It is too painful for him. Those things have since been brought down to the basement.
Finding comfort
In the years since his daughter’s death, community support has been a source of comfort, helping Raymond continue to make memories as time pulls him further away from the days spent with his family.
He deeply admires Gov. Charlie Baker, also a Swampscott resident, who not only spoke at a memorial service for Jennifer Harris a few years ago, but has invited Raymond to spend holidays with him and his family. Baker also helped arrange for Home Depot to spruce up the Harris home, Raymond said.
“Raymond Harris is a wonderful person, and his daughter was an American hero who, because of the way she was raised by Raymond and Rosalie, exemplified the very best traits a person can have,” Baker said in a prepared statement. “The way Raymond has handled such tragedy with grace and class has been extraordinary.”
Friends also check in with him, and help keep him busy. The local Marine Corps League, which is named after his daughter, remembers her every year with a service at a memorial garden created near his house, and its members keep in touch and in support.
“The town has done a lot for me,” Raymond said, his voice cracking with emotion.
As he goes about his day, Raymond Harris said he believes his family is with him in spirit. Sometime he thinks he sees a shadow of his daughter.
“I have this feeling that she’s with me,” he said.
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