Jacob was killed in Iraq on February 24, 2005.

Article from the Chicago Tribune
By Patrick Rucker
February 26, 2005

When Jake Palmatier told his parents to sit down in March 2002 for some news, they did not hear what they expected.

He was not ill and neither had he eloped, as they thought, but their only child was joining the Army.

"He said that he had made a decision," said David Palmatier of how his son gave the news. "He said that joining the Army was something he always wanted to do."

Five months later, Jacob Palmatier of Springfield, Ill., was in basic training at Ft. Benning, Ga., and embarking on a sudden life change that would take him to service in South Korea and Iraq.

On Thursday, Spec. Palmatier, 29, was killed by a roadside bomb 60 miles outside of Baghdad.

Palmatier's parents said their son was part of a convoy of military vehicles delivering mail when he came under attack.

Palmatier was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

After graduating from Lutheran High School in Springfield in 1993, Palmatier graduated magna cum laude from Illinois College with a degree in English, his family said. Fascinated by music from childhood, Palmatier sang in a choir at college and played guitar in a rock band.

Although he said he wanted to become an English professor, Palmatier worked for several years as a technician at a state agency after graduation.

"He was just marking time until he figured out what he wanted to do," said David Palmatier.

Then he decided to enlist.

After basic training, Palmatier served a year in Korea where his interest in music continued.

"He came back home with 7 electric guitars," his father said.

Two days after Christmas 2003, Palmatier married the girlfriend he met in college, Bridget Hendrickson. The couple had once dated as students, broken up and reunited after graduation.

"They decided to have the ceremony in a big church here in Springfield," his father said.

After their wedding, the couple moved to Georgia where Palmatier returned to serve at Ft. Benning.

Several times he was offered a promotion to a specialty service but declined, his father said.

"He just wanted to be another guy in the Army. An infantryman," he said. "That's everything he wanted to be."

About a year after he was married, Palmatier's unit was chosen for service in Iraq.

He shipped out Jan. 16, his dad said.

"He had been in the country less than a month."


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