Bronze Star honors sailor’s Iraq service

Bronze Star honors sailor’s Iraq service
By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, November 14, 2008

A Navy lieutenant was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device Monday on Okinawa for the very dangerous work of eliminating explosives in the Anbar province of Iraq in 2007.

But for Lt. Jonathan Haase, the deployment had been a "lot of fun," he said. He added he never thought he would earn such a high award when he joined the U.S. Navy.

The sailor said he was most grateful for something else — having his wife at the award ceremony.

"My wife was home for the kids and it was a way to thank her for all the support that she gave me," Haase said. "For me, it was really gratifying that she was there."

Haase was given the award for routinely exposing himself to grave and immediate danger as the officer-in-charge of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Five Detachment One, which operated in Iraq from June until December 2007.
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