Female soldier from Napa killed in Iraq

Home » News » Local

Jennifer Cole | Buy photos

Monday, August 04, 2008

Comment

By MARSHA DORGAN
Register Staff Writer

5:10 p.m.Jennifer Cole believed she was making a difference.

The 34-year-old U.S. Army private from Napa died Saturday in Bayji, Iraq ,from a gunshot wound suffered in a non-combat incident.

Her death is under investigation, according to the Department of Defense and her mother, Candice Gholson of Napa.

“All we know is she was shot. She was not on maneuvers. It was an accident. It could have been someone was cleaning their weapon, it went off and struck my daughter. I really don’t know all of the circumstances,” Gholson said. “It’s so hard ... being so far away.”

Cole was assigned to the 426th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell Kentucky.

Cole was born in Vallejo. She and her family moved to Napa, where she attended Silverado Middle School and graduated from Vintage High School in 1992.

Cole joined the Army about a year ago, Gholson said. After finishing boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C., she was assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

“She was due to come home for an 18-day visit on Aug. 11,” said her mother. “She loved Iraq. Jennifer really believed we made a difference. She loved the people. She said they were very open to the Americans and believed we were there to help them make a better life.

“She was the light of my life,” Gholson said, fighting back tears. “My husband died June 4. It is comforting to know they are together.”

46 comment(s)

proudmama2 wrote on Aug 4, 2008 4:14 PM:

" May God Bless her family and friends.
Thank you for your service to our country. I did not know you but will say a prayer for you. "

pernodboi wrote on Aug 4, 2008 5:41 PM:

" I hate to intrude on the family's grief, but will there be a service in Napa, or one of the national cemetaries? "

Raven wrote on Aug 4, 2008 5:49 PM:

" our hearts go out to you and your family for your loss. "

RangerDad wrote on Aug 4, 2008 6:02 PM:

" Thank you for your family's service to our country. Your family will be in my family's prayers "

Rocketman wrote on Aug 4, 2008 6:02 PM:

" ..........no matter the cause of death......Jennifer is a hero..........she was there protecting the rest of us. "

winemd wrote on Aug 4, 2008 6:54 PM:

" I am so sorry for your losses. I can't imagine how difficult this must be. Your daughter is indeed a hero. "

funnyme wrote on Aug 4, 2008 8:15 PM:

" Thank you Jenniffer.
Thank you Ms. Gholson.
May God bless America and the brave ones who believe in protecting us.
We are proud of you both. "

russ wrote on Aug 4, 2008 8:56 PM:

" Jennifer was a proud American. She will always be remembered for her service to her country. I would like to know where she will rest. "

freeport56 wrote on Aug 4, 2008 9:32 PM:

" While I never knew you Jennifer, thank for keeping us safe and protecting us from harm. You and your family will be in our prayers.

May god bless you Jennifer and your family. "

JMB wrote on Aug 4, 2008 9:35 PM:

" My thoughts and prayers go out to Jennifer's family. Always be reminded that she perished (albeit too young), dedicated to what she loved and had the pride and passion for. May her angels watch over all the other ones out there fighting and protecting those of us at home. "

sammy wrote on Aug 4, 2008 9:58 PM:

" As well our family will lift up prayers for this Mama.

Thank you for your families service to our country. You must be very proud of your daughter. I'm really sorry for your loss. "

steph wrote on Aug 4, 2008 11:31 PM:

" My heart goes out to the friends and family of Jennifer. I'm sorry for your loss. May your happy memories bring you comfort. "

jm82dabn wrote on Aug 5, 2008 12:12 AM:

" This is news that frankly is unacceptable. There is no reason for this type of accident to occur. Safeguards are in place to prevent "accidents". This was due to negligence or intent. It is sad that a brave soldier performing her mission so well would perish in this manner, nonetheless she will always be remembered. Her passing will not be in vain. My heart felt condolences go out to the Gholson family. May God Bless You. I will once again say a prayer and shed a tear for a fallen comrade in arms. Jennifer, your watch is complete and you have perform brilliantly, carry on. "

mofosheee wrote on Aug 5, 2008 1:01 AM:

" Prayers to the family, we are sorry for your loss. "

Grits wrote on Aug 5, 2008 5:27 AM:

" A grateful nation mourns the loss of one its best and brightest on the altar of freedom......God bless her good soul, and may her family be comforted by the knowledge that she has performed brilliantly in the service of her nation and earned their respect and affection. We are devestated and so sorry for your great loss. "

nanner wrote on Aug 5, 2008 7:12 AM:

" Thank You and God Bless you Jennifer....

To Jennifers Mother and Brothers so sorry for your loss may you find some sort of comfort knowing what a HERO your daughter and sister really was. "

jwk wrote on Aug 5, 2008 7:17 AM:

" Candy, Our hearts and prayers go out to your and your family and WE Thank Jennifer so much for her Dedication, Patriotism and Service for the safety and betterment of our country and the world for that matter. SHe will not be forgotton by us that support Our Country, Our President & Our Amazing Military!! Wish there were more young people (hero's) like Jennifer out there. Check out a group called "Gold Star Mom's" because you truly are one of them!!! "

marine1/1 wrote on Aug 5, 2008 7:21 AM:

" She was that which others did not want to be ; She went where others feared to go, and did what others failed to do. She asked nothing from those who gave nothing, and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal lonliness. . . should I fail. She has seen the face of terror, felt the stinging of cold fear, and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moments love. She has cried, pained, and hoped. . . but most of all, she has lived times others would say were best forgotten. She was proud of what she was, A UNITED STATES ARMY SOLDIER. God bless you Jennifer Cole for being an Army soldier and trying to make the world a better place. You will not be forgotten.Ooh-Raw. "

marine1/1 wrote on Aug 5, 2008 7:30 AM:

" jm82dabn: I'm sure you were never in the service by your comment but accidents happen in the service alot, and there are safe guards in place but they are accidents. I saw it happen alot in my 6 years.My thoughts and prayers to Jennifers family and friends. She was a HERO to us all. "

cab e-girl wrote on Aug 5, 2008 8:01 AM:

" Our families thoughts and prayers go out to Jennifer and her family. Bless her and her family for making a real difference in the world today. "

crusherfan wrote on Aug 5, 2008 8:11 AM:

" Respect and Sympathy to the family "

y2kcbr wrote on Aug 5, 2008 8:34 AM:

" /Salute

Deepest thoughts to the family and friends of this brave soldier, daughter and friend. "

plasticpinkflamingo wrote on Aug 5, 2008 8:50 AM:

" Thank you Jennifer, for your dedication and service to your country. My heartfelt condolences to the family. I will remember Jennifer Cole and her family in my prayers. "

badmoonrising wrote on Aug 5, 2008 9:08 AM:

" Candy, Yes she was a hero, but so are you, and the rest of Jennifer's family. God bless you, with his grace during this difficult time. You are in our prayers. "

bloodagar wrote on Aug 5, 2008 9:19 AM:

" hooahh. "

MarkMiwords wrote on Aug 5, 2008 10:22 AM:

" Our community and nation sends prayers for this wonderful young hero, and her family. "

biLly wrote on Aug 5, 2008 11:03 AM:

" Thanks
Jennifer !!!!!! you are a hero. My heart and thoughts are with her family. "

LuckyKaosCA wrote on Aug 5, 2008 11:05 AM:

" My Prayers go out to Candy and her father, Rick Mahanay, as well as the rest of her family "

Ruff Limblog wrote on Aug 5, 2008 11:29 AM:

" A tragedy... our condolences. Our family is saddened by the loss of yet another of America's children serving in Iraq. ~Ruff "

yvonne wrote on Aug 5, 2008 11:40 AM:

" May God Bless you and keep you in his loving hands as he keeps your beautiful and brave daughter next to him now and forever. "

mom2priceboys wrote on Aug 5, 2008 12:45 PM:

" may god bless her and protect the rest of our troops "

707twistedT wrote on Aug 5, 2008 3:53 PM:

" "The love you take is equal to the love you make".Our deepest condolences to such a beautiful family "

TGG31 wrote on Aug 5, 2008 5:16 PM:

" Candy, my prayers go out to you and your family. I went to school with Jen- she had a heart of gold and a laugh that was contagious! Jen will always be a HERO to me, because she was brave enough to volunteer for a job a lot of us would not. She was a great person and I am proud to have know her, she will not be forgotten. "

napamom21 wrote on Aug 5, 2008 5:54 PM:

" My deepest condolences to Jennifer's family... You are in my prayers.

I'm happy to see NVR acknowledge the true heroes in our community, the soldiers fighting for our country!!!! "

og2009 wrote on Aug 5, 2008 7:48 PM:

" Thank you Jennifer for your Bravory and courage. I'm proud of you and salute you. God Bless your family Mrs. Gholson. I will pray for Peace of mine. "

Marigold wrote on Aug 5, 2008 8:21 PM:

" Thank you Jen, for your service to our country. I went to school with her for a year, she was a wonderful person. "

barefoot wrote on Aug 5, 2008 9:50 PM:

" I think that the thanks should go out to ALL of the families in the armed forces. It's sad when a soldier dies. To me, it's even more sad to see everyone else in pain. How anyone could shut themselves off to the pain is beyond me. "

DJL_AMCYN wrote on Aug 7, 2008 8:56 AM:

" To the family: My family sends our deepest condolences. We are there for you , in your time of need.

To Jen: Thank you! You, truly, will be missed. May you rest in peace knowing how proud we were of you.

To those who knew or didn't know Jen: She had an infectious smile, a happy-go-lucky air, a tremendous spirit, and was s pretty darn good kareoke singer.... ;) Good-bye for now, goofball!! "

14obama wrote on Aug 8, 2008 10:23 AM:

" Hey Napa Valley Register ! You ought to see how a REAL newspaper is run. Check out my old newspaper ! They don't play games with people. They allow you to say what's on your mind like a democratic society should be. Read the Santa Cruz Sentinel to learn some pointers. "

14obama wrote on Aug 9, 2008 10:05 AM:

" Now,that's more like it,NVR ! It's real nice when you can accept and print my comments. All sides of a story have to be shown to understand the in-depth of its meaning. One side is lop sided ! Thanks ! "

14obama wrote on Aug 9, 2008 10:16 AM:

" My feeling on this is she joined up believing that it was a just war and did an honest and patriotic job there. She had no reason to believe a president of the USof A could deceive her into believing otherwise. She gave her life for the greed of this administration ! She's a fine example of patriotism. I salute her and her fellow soldiers.
Now,let's get those responsible for her death. By now we all know where to look. "

ADark1 wrote on Aug 11, 2008 4:31 AM:

" My condolences go out to ALL the families who are losing loved ones over there.

That being said, I believe the truth will find that she was a victim of another American in this case. It 's not the first time its happened and as we stay there longer it WILL happen again.

I am so angry with the media blackout of American Dead returning home. We all know how that helped end the vietnam conflict. Yet, all those connected to the present white house are making money hand over fist, as we ALL KNOW now, this war was based on a pack of lies. How many more will have to die needlessly? THose of you who support our troops? What about some recognition in the form of a plaque at Napa's vetrans Park? Better yet? What about getting them home as the truth has FINALLY come out? "

jwk wrote on Aug 11, 2008 2:23 PM:

" And to Dark1, and you really are dark. I bet you light up a room when you leave it! The media has Blacked OUT all of THE Great Things that have been are definitely ARE happening in IRAQ. We are winning and NEED to continue the fight. The Media should of been posting the Names of all the Dead innocent American citizens and Posting all of the Names of the "Dead Terrorist's" Now that's a number we should all agree on. Remember all of your Leftie hero's in office and congress beleived and approved of the actions we took. Just none had the intestinal fortitude to do anything about it!! Thank God for people like Jennifer... Suppose you'll stick your head in the sand about the IRAN & now Russia situation! "

bloodagar wrote on Aug 11, 2008 7:17 PM:

" 14obama...
" My feeling on this is she joined up believing that it was a just war and did an honest and patriotic job there. She had no reason to believe a president of the USof A could deceive her into believing otherwise. She gave her life for the greed of this administration ! She's a fine example of patriotism. I salute her and her fellow soldiers. Now,let's get those responsible for her death. By now we all know where to look. "

Shame on you.

She joined up a year ago, YOU are speaking for the dead?
DO YOU KNOW?...So, how can you possibly sugar up your descent with her OBVIOUS patriotism...
Your comments are obnoxious...then again, just another opinion. Just another manipulative way of using dead soldiers for your soapbox. "

ADark1 wrote on Aug 11, 2008 7:22 PM:

" jwk wrote on Aug 11, 2008 2:23 PM:

" And to Dark1, and you really are dark. I bet you light up a room when you leave it!"

Actually jwk I hope that I do light it up with knowledge and reality..something of which you seem to be in short supply of. Here's a sample of how dark I am..the media has seen an american girl die before under similar circumstances..several american women have been raped by our "friendly" forces..Look it up I'm sure you can use google.
I don;t have a leftie hero in office. I seem to remember he's in fact a rightie and we ALL know he's NO hereo..even though he likes wearing pilot jumpsuits and cowbay clothing.

Furthermore, the issue in Russia is incorrect. THe issue is in GEORGIA. Secondly, the russians decided to help a breakaway province of georgia to do just that. In fact, when Georgia decided to do the right thing and send in its military, Russia butted in..pretty much like what we;ve done in the middle east over and over again. So now to iraq, we had plenty of warning and could have done something about that..seems now that YOUR hero is a lame duck he's finally getting a dose of reality and sending over condi to deal with it. CHECK your facts, you'll see I am in fact correct. I wager I'll be correct on the last thing I posted as well. "

antipc wrote on Aug 13, 2008 7:06 PM:

" adark1 & 14obamas' posts should be stricken from this blog. Their posts are disrespectful & disgusting. Using the death of an American soldier as a political football to further a political agenda is repulsive. There are plenty of others places to voice an opinion. This is a place to honor heroes & respect their loved ones.

God bless Jennifer, her family, her friends, & the America she so bravely defended. "

Join the conversation

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

Create an account

Comment Guidelines

The goal of the story comments section at NapaValleyRegister.com is to have an open, thought-provoking, civil community forum for all issues.

What gets your comment posted?

• Staying on topic

• Keeping your comment to 300 words or less

• Avoiding name-calling

• Addressing your comments to the message rather than the messenger

What gets your comment deleted?

• Personal attacks

• Derogatory remarks

• Name-calling of any sort

• Going off-topic

• Hate speech

• Racially-insensitive comments

• Implying guilt of a subject in a crime story before there is a court verdict

• Posting e-mail addresses

• Posting comments of a commercial nature

• POSTING WITH ALL CAPITAL LETTERS

• Linking multiple comments together with "to be continued..." to get around the 300 word limit.

The fine print

- Comments are either approved or denied. We do not edit comments.

- You are welcome to modify and resubmit a denied comment.

- Comments may take several hours to be posted.

- Comments posted are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NapaValleyRegister.com, its employees or its parent company.

- Do you have information on a story? Please go to our virtual newsroom to send us a news tip.

- If you feel a posted comment has violated our guidelines, please contact online@napanews.com or add a comment indicating you have an issue and our moderators will review the comment in question.

Search: