November 6, 1978 ~ February 7, 2007

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The Early Years

Jennifer Jean Harris was born on November 6, 1978, to Rosalie and Ray Harris of Swampscott, Massachusetts. As a young child she developed a determination to overcome obstacles in achieving her goals and a compassion for others. She was serious yet full of enthusiasm, and as she grew, so did her enthusiasm for life. That enthusiasm and her beautiful smile were contagious to those around her.
A favorite family story of her determination to overcome obstacles and that demonstrates early in life her skill of developing creative strategies to achieve her goal is how she learned to write. She preferred learning to playing with dolls and would repeatedly beg her Nana to teach her how to write the alphabet. Nana is right handed and Jen was left handed. Because she couldn't hold her pencil the same way as Nana, she traced the letters that Nana wrote with her little finger until she perfected a beautiful penmanship.

When Jen was six, her mom, an elementary school teacher, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It became difficult for her mom to get around and do things that many people are able to do naturally. Jennifer was her mom's big helper and her compassion for others started with those experiences. Jen helped around the house by being her mom's hands. She always made cookies for friends and family during the holidays; she helped with the grocery shopping; she helped her mother write the grades of her students in her grade book, all the time being pleasant and happy yet still serious.

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. Jen was lucky to have such a village. In addition to her parents, Jen's village included her grandparents, Nana and A-Pa, her Uncle Tony and later her village grew to include Aunt Linda whom Tony married when Jen was fourteen. Jen's village was especially important to her given the restrictions placed on her mom because of her MS. As a result, Tony and Linda became a second set of parents for Jen, being actively involved in every aspect of her life.
Jen's education began at Machon elementary school in Swampscott followed by Swampscott Middle School. She enjoyed the typical young girl and teenage activities. She was in the Girl Scouts as a Brownie, a member of the Swampscott Recreational Sailing program, and was a Swampscott Big Blue youth football cheerleader. By the time she entered Swampscott High School, she had mastered the ability to engage in multiple activities and do them all well! She was a member of the Student Council and was elected Class Secretary all four years for the Class of 1996. She was in the high school band as a flute player in her freshman year and, she was selected to be a Drum Major in her senior year. She was an Honors graduate who was also involved in the Political Action Club, Spanish Club and Students for Action.

Her high school yearbook quote reflects her core values of hard work, excellence, compassion and service to others:

"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving individuals.
To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the
same time share a general responsibility for humanity, our particular
duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful." -Marie Curie

Her compassion for others led to her passion for helping others. Jen worked at the Swampscott Town Library, was a candy striper at Salem Hospital, and participated in the walk for MS. She volunteered at the Swampscott Senior Citizen's Dance, volunteered at My Brother's Table and for the American Heart Association and Toys for Tots. As a member of St. John the Evangelist Church, her hometown parish, she was also a religious education instructor.
As a senior in high school, she learned about the military academies. They intrigued her as she wanted a different college experience, different from the four-year traditional model. After visiting the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and receiving appointments to both, she selected the Naval Academy. Her multifarious interests, her passion for serving others and her love of sailing combined to draw her to Annapolis.


The Naval Academy Years

During her senior year at Swampscott High School, Jennifer volunteered at Congressman Peter Torkildsen's office and developed a love of politics. She went on to become a Political Science major at The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.

The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is an undergraduate college that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The mission at USNA is "to develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government."

On July 2, 1996, Induction Day (I-Day), Jen began her new life at the United States Naval Academy with a rigorous day of medical examinations, uniform fittings, equipment issue, completing paperwork, getting her first Plebe haircut, and being assigned to a Brigade of Midshipmen military unit - Echo Company - for Plebe Summer. Jen took her Oath of Office to become a U.S. Navy Midshipman during the evening Oath of Office Ceremony in the court yard of Bancroft Hall, thus officially becoming a Midshipman and beginning her Plebe Summer Training. Jen's USNA Class of 2000 comprised 1,212 Midshipmen 4th Class (Freshmen), 16.5% or 200 of which were women.
During Jen's Plebe year her Company, 9th Company, was selected to be the Color Company based on its accomplishments. As a member of the Color Company she was present at the December 1997 Army-Navy Game for President Bill Clinton's review and she participated in his inauguration in January 1998.

For the remainder of her years at USNA, Jen was in 18th Company. Her activities at the Naval Academy included membership on two athletic teams -- the USNA Power Lifting Team, and the USNA Intercollegiate (IC) Sailing Team, where she raced Lasers. She also continued her commitment to others through the community service activities of being a Religious Education instructor at The USNA Chapel and by participating in Toys for Tots, a program she started replicating the one of her hometown in Swampscott, MA.
In the Summer of 1998, as a Midshipmen 2nd Class (Junior), she was a member of a cadre of First and Second Class Midshipmen, known as Detailers, providing leadership and training for the incoming 4th Class Midshipmen, the Class of 2002. In this role she was a Squad Leader assigned to 10 Plebes for Plebe Summer making sure they were trained in the Naval Academy tradition and ensuring they were physically and mentally fit.
Jen's leadership skills continued to develop and as a "Firstie" (Midshipmen 1st Class, a Senior), she was chosen to be a "Brigade Striper", a much-respected position of leadership and responsibility within the Brigade of Midshipmen. The Brigade consists of 30 companies and the Midshipman Command Structure is made up of First Class Midshipmen selected for their outstanding leadership performance.
During the Class of 2000 Commissioning Week, she received a Political Science Department Award for her accomplishments and enjoyed with her family many of the Commissioning Week activities leading up to Graduation and Commissioning Ceremonies. On May 24, 2000, at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD, Jen graduated with her Class following which she was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.


Jen's Marine Years

During her years at the Academy, Jen's upper-class Midshipmen and role models, who were going to become Marines, impressed her. They are the reason she chose to become a United States Marine Corps Officer and pilot. Like the Marines who consider themselves "The Best of the Best," Jen always set high standards and goals for herself and worked hard to accomplish them.
Following graduation from USNA and her commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Jen went to The Basic School (TBS) in Quantico, Virginia. At TBS, she spent 6 months training and developing the professional knowledge and skills necessary to effectively lead Marines under her command. Courses at TBS included leadership, marksmanship, land navigation, communications, infantry tactics, weapons, drill, military law, logistics, personnel administration, and Marine Corps history.

After graduating from TBS, Jen reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL for Aviation Preflight Indoctrination. While there, she completed physical training and courses in engineering, air navigation, aviation physiology and water survival. After completing her training, Jen reported for primary flight training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, TX where she was trained to fly the T-34 turbo propeller, fixed-wing aircraft.

Upon completing primary flight training, Jen was selected to fly helicopters, which brought her to Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, FL. As a member of Helicopter Training Squadron Eight (HT-8) Jen completed a rigorous program and earned her coveted Wings of Gold on September 13, 2002.

Next Jen was assigned to a training squadron, HMMT-164 in Camp Pendleton, CA, where she learned to fly the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, also affectionately known as the Battle Phrog.

Upon completing her CH-46 training, Jen was assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron HMM-364, Purple Foxes, and immediately deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). HMM-364 is a legendary squadron. In Vietnam, they became famous for repeatedly going into harm's way, under any conditions, in order to evacuate the wounded. That dedication continued in OIF.

During her time with HMM-364, Jen was chosen to attend The Weapons and Tactics Instructor's Course (WTI), the Marine equivalent to Top Gun training. Jen was the first deployed female pilot in the Purple Foxes Squadron and served three tours of duty in Iraq. While she was with the Purple Foxes, she was promoted twice; first to the rank of First Lieutenant, and then to the rank of Captain.

During Jen's first OIF tour with the Purple Foxes at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in 2003, her enlisted Marines affectionately dubbed her "The Dove". While on her daily exercise runs she would hear some of the enlisted say, "There goes the dove." She learned that they were referring to her as she ran by and was told that this was because they considered her "the prettiest and calmest thing in a war zone."
Substantiating this image was a fellow Marine Corps pilot's wife who said, "Jen was grace under pressure. She was gentle and peaceful, beautiful and elegant. At the same time she was strong, confidant, motivated and humbly commanded the utmost respect of all those around her. She was courageous."
As a casualty evacuation pilot, Jen saved countless lives. According to her Commanding Officer, "Jennifer brought out the best in those around her because she was so demanding of herself, yet understanding of others. She believed in her mission as a helicopter pilot and dedicated fourteen and fifteen hour days while deployed in Iraq to ensure that every mission was well coordinated and executed as safely as possible. She watched out for the young pilots in the squadron and took them under her wing. She used to kid that she was their mother hen. She was equally protective of her peers and those senior to her. She was after all, a Purple Fox. She was always professional but managed to make things pleasant with her endearing personality."

On February 7, 2007, on the very last flight of her third deployment, only days before coming home, and after completing a successful casualty evacuation mission, Captain Jennifer J. Harris was killed in action when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down by insurgents. That day and many days before it, the Dove flew so others could live.

The Symbol of the Purple Butterfly

The butterfly has long symbolized new life. Aztec beliefs include a belief in an afterlife where the spirit of the dead returns as butterflies. In the Aztec tradition, two addition beliefs related to Monarch Butterflies are known- they are believed to be the incarnation of fallen warriors wearing their colors of battle; They carry the soul of the fallen warrior.

While visiting Jen's resting place on the 7th month anniversary of her passing ( 7 September 2007 ), a monarch butterfly arose from behind her headstone and encircled her loved ones, Linda and Laura, again and again, as if she were giving them hugs. Shortly after that, at a memorial service for four Service Academy women killed that year in service to their country, a maquette called "Woman Soar: Porcelain on Steel" was presented to each family with Linda accepting the Harris/Macone Maquette. The artist who created the Maquettes worked with the Aztec beliefs stated above. Her inspiration came from watching the emergence of a monarch from it's jeweled jade chrysalis while she was painting a mirror at the Long Beach Veterans hospital.


The purple butterfly symbolizes Jen's life by blending the Aztec beliefs and the family's experiences with Jen's squadron, HMM-364, the Purple Foxes. This symbol, the purple butterfly, has, therefore, special meaning for Jen's family and friends.

Written by Linda Macone and Laura M. Ventimiglia



The Dove Story

Captain Jennifer J. Harris has becomed widely known as "The Dove". It seems that people created their own explanations for how and where this nickname orignated. According to Jen, as she told her Aunt Linda and her other family members, at the time she became aware of people referring to her as "The Dove" she was stationed at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in 2003. On her daily exercise runs she would hear some of the enlisted say, "There goes the dove." She had been told that they said this because they considered her "The prettiest and calmest thing in a war zone." Corroborating this explanation are several people who either served with Jen or had relatives served with Jen during her first deployment to Kuwait for Operation Iraqi Freedom I.