 WMBB-TV -- The war in Iraq touches home again as a Panama City family mourns the death of their son. Charles Andrew Jankowski was a Specialist 4 in the U.S. Army and was killed in Iraq last Friday by an improvised explosive device.
Charles was a 2002 graduate of Rutherford High School. He participated in the ROTC program and enlisted in the military right after graduation.
Family members describe Charles as an outdoorsman. He loved to BBQ and loved to get in the mud. They say he would do anything for anyone, even if it took a little arm twisting.
"We used to make him do our chores," said Charles' sister Felicia Kirkland. 'If he didn't we'd take turns punching on him. Then he got so much bigger than us we couldn't do it anymore."
But now memories and pictures are all they have left of Charles. The Army notified his mother on Friday that he had been killed by and IED while on a mission in Baghdad. This was his second tour in Iraq.
"I had just pulled up and they pulled up right after me. I just knew it. I said, no I don't want to talk to you and I shut the door in their face," remembers Charles mother Rose Jankowski. 
Charles was supposed to be home in a matter of weeks on leave. His mother wants to see all of the soldiers out of Iraq so no other family has to experience the pain they're going through.
"All of these young people, there's just no sense in it. They all need to come back home where they belong," Rose said.
Charles was looking forward to a job in forestry when he got out of the Army in April 2009. |
I would just like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
Rock Of The Marne!