Davenport North graduate is 52nd Iowan to die in Iraq -- the third woman

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By Ann McGlynn and Barb Ickes | Friday, May 4, 2007 11:52 PM CDT | () comments

(Updated 12:37 p.m.) Before Katie Soenksen joined the Army, she told a teacher that she was meant to enlist.

Then she instructed Sue Day:

“Don’t you dare be scared for me. Pray for me. Be happy for me. But don’t be scared for me.”

Day learned during an intercom announcement at Davenport North High School on Thursday morning that her former student, the one she nicknamed “Stinky,” died in Iraq, killed by a roadside bomb that destroyed her Humvee in West Baghdad.

“She did exactly what she wanted to do,” said her mother, Mary Ann Soenksen, 24 hours after two Army officials came to her northwest Davenport home to inform her of her daughter’s death. “We raised the kids to be their own people.”

A chaplain and a captain knocked on the Soenksen home door at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. “I knew when it’s two ... . I knew what it meant,” her mom said.

Mary Ann Soenksen opened the last e-mail she received from her daughter Thursday morning. It was about the extension for getting her taxes done. Dad, Ron Soenksen, text-messaged back and forth nearly every day. When he is on his way to work in the afternoon, it is evening in Iraq.

Katie Soenksen, 19, and a 2005 graduate of North, came from a military family. Her grandfather was military police in World War II. Her aunt is set to become a colonel in the Air Force this summer. Two uncles are in the military, as is a niece.

Soenksen was a member of the 410th Military Police Company, based at Fort Hood, Texas. She enlisted in the Army after her graduation from high school in 2005. The Army sent her to Iraq last summer.

She is the 52nd Iowan to die in Iraq, the third woman. She is the second Iowan to die in five days in Baghdad.

She is the first member of North High’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps to die in battle. When she came home on leave, she came to show her new gold Dodge pickup truck to Gunnery Sgt. Greg Livingston, a leader of that group.

“It takes a lot for someone nowadays to don a uniform,” said Livingston, a former Marine. “She was willing to put that uniform on ... and pay the ultimate price. She believed in the cause.”

Soenksen was “always dependable, responsible and showed good leadership,” Livingston said. “She was loved by all.”

Ryan Riewerts, vocal director at North, said word of Soenksen’s death hit the school early Thursday through friends who had kept in touch since the teenager’s deployment.

“I feel so proud that I had a chance to teach her,” he said Thursday afternoon. “Our men’s ensemble is dedicating a song to her tonight (Thursday).

“It is a definite shock. You know there’s a possibility this can happen, but you hope it doesn’t. I think we’re still numb.”

After announcing Soenksen’s death, the men’s ensemble sang “Grace” during Thursday night’s spring concer.

Day, who first met Soenksen as a sophomore in a computer class, recalled the smile she always seemed to have on her face.

“Every time I saw her in the hall, she had a sparkle in her eye,” Day said. Soenksen called her “Mrs. Shorty.”

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.

Quad-City casualty list

Those with connections to the Quad-City region who have died in the line of duty in Iraq:

2006

Sgt. Michael D. Smith, 41, of Bettendorf died Dec. 18, 2006, in Washington, D.C., of injuries he received while serving in Iraq in 2003.

Petty Officer 1st Class Jerry A. Tharp, 44, of Aledo, Ill., died July 12 when his dismounted patrol was struck by an explosive device while operating in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.

Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Rovinski, 44, of Roseville, Ill., was killed June 5 when the Humvee he was traveling in was hit by an improvised explosive device in the Al Anbar province.

2005

Sgt. Jessica M. Housby of Rock Island was killed Feb. 9. She served with the 1644th Transportation Unit, Illinois National Guard, Rock Falls, Ill.

2004

Pfc. Scott M. Tyrrell, 21, of Sterling, Ill., died Nov. 20 of injuries suffered Nov. 14 near Tikrit. He served with the 299th Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Hood, Texas.

Pfc. Nick Skinner of Davenport was killed Aug. 26. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Unit, Platoon 1023, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Trace W. Dossett of Orlando, Fla., a Wapello, Iowa, native, was killed May 2. He was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14 out of Jacksonville, Fla.

Sgt. Landis W. Garrison of Rapids City, Ill., died April 29. He was assigned to the 333rd Military Police Company, Illinois National Guard, Freeport, Ill.

Cpl. Michael R. Speer, a Kansas native who joined the Marine Corps in Davenport, was killed April 9. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

2003

Sgt. Aaron Sissel of Tipton, Iowa, was killed Nov. 29. He was assigned to the 2133rd Transportation Company of the Iowa National Guard, based in Centerville, Muscatine and Cedar Rapids.

Sgt. Paul F. Fisher, 39, of Marion, Iowa, died Nov. 6 from injuries suffered in a rocket attack on his helicopter Nov. 2 near Fallujah. Fisher served with Army National Guard Detachment 1, Company F, 106th Aviation Battalion, based in Davenport.

Chief Warrant Officer Bruce A. Smith of West Liberty, Iowa, was killed Nov. 2. He also was assigned to Detachment 1, Company F, 106th Aviation Battalion.

Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus of Davenport drowned March 24. He was assigned to the Marines 6th Engineer Support Battalion.

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