Charles Victor Komppa
Navy PO1
From: Absarokee, Stillwater County
Date of Death: 10/25/2006
Conflict: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Charles V. “Chuck” Komppa made Absarokee a better place in the three short years that he and his young family lived here in the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains that he loved. Strong in commitment to faith, family, friends and work, Chuck Komppa, 35, died half a world away from home, doing what he always did: helping others. Petty Officer 2nd Class Komppa was driving a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle on October 25 in Iraq’s Anbar Province when a roadside bomb detonated, killing him and four United States Marines in the vehicle. Chuck Komppa, a skilled electrician at the Stillwater Mine, was with the Marines to do electrical work to improve their living conditions, according to fellow Naval reservists from his Billings-based unit. “The Marines are in a pretty hot area, and since their living conditions were shoddy to say the least, Chuck took a sense of pride and accomplishment in helping the Marines out,” said Rick Starks, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper from Billings who is serving in Iraq in Chuck Komppa’s unit. A Navy veteran, Chuck Komppa enlisted in the reserves and then re-enlisted, knowing that his unit in the 3rd Naval Construction Regiment would be deployed to Iraq in September. Delisa Komppa said her husband “felt it was something he needed to do” when he re-enlisted in June. “He had a real sense of duty, a real call to serve,” said Allen Solheim, pastor of Absarokee Evangelical Church who knew Chuck Komppa as a devoted church member and volunteer. Tradition of honor The sense of duty, honor and courage demonstrated by Chuck Komppa was in the finest tradition of the United States military, a tradition that is strong in Montana. Tragically, it is often the best among us who give the most, even their lives, in war.
