RIDGECREST, CA, U.S.A.
U.S. ARMY
SGT, CO B, 3D BN, 187TH IN, FORT CAMPBELL, KY
04/24/2003, LANDSTUHL, GERMANY
Troy Jenkins told his father he felt his luck was running out.
And SGT Jenkins’ courageous, split-second decision April 19th saved the lives of a 7-year-old girl and several soldiers but killed him. SGT Jenkins threw himself on a cluster bomb just as it went off. The bomb was brought over to the group of soldiers by an Iraqi child.
Jack Jenkins of Turkey Creek, LA said one soldier from his son’s outfit explained Troy’s actions this way: “If you were standing in a store and there was a guy in there with a hand grenade, which way would you run? Troy ran forward, to save that little girl and to save his buddies.”
SGT Jenkins grew up in Evergreen, AL. He was raised by his father. “He loved music. He loved to roam the woods. And he loved to go fishing,” Jack Jenkins added. “He was the kind of kid, if he had a problem, he’d take his radio out to the woods and try to think it out. He never got in any trouble, and he never lied to me.”
By the time Troy graduated from high school in 1995, he had already joined the Marines. He later enlisted in the Army.
SGT Jenkins planed to leave military service and join the California Highway Patrol. Troy missed his wife and children and wanted to be with them.
Amanda Jenkins, SGT. Jenkins wife explained that the circumstances of his death were not surprising. “He didn’t have a selfish bone in his body. He was always thinking of other people first.”
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