Jockheck, Anne
Item
Title
Creator
Birth Date
Birthplace
Occupation
Rank
Service Start Date
Service End Date
Honors
Military Service Description
Anne Jockheck met a recruiter from the United States Marine Corps while at Seton Hall. She joined their college-junior program. She graduated from the Women’s Officer Candidate School located in Quantico, VA in 1973. She received an honorable discharge from the Marines and was immediately given a direct commission from the US Army the next day. William, Jockheck’s husband and an Army lieutenant, swore her into the Army. Jockheck and her husband departed for Berlin, Germany in May of 1974. The Army gave Jockheck a temporary assignment to the Women’s Officer Candidates Course in Fort McClellan, AL. Upon her graduation, she became part of one of the Army’s last classes of Women’s Officer Corps, “WACs.” Jockheck was then sent to the Military Police Officers School in Fort Gordon, GA.
After her graduation, she became a Military Police officer and received her assignment to the 287th MP Company (sep), which was located in Berlin, Germany in 1975. Jockheck was the first woman officer in the 287th Military Police Company (sep). Jockheck’s role in Berlin was considered combat service support. MPs provided police services to American servicemen and women while working with British MPs, the German police, and the French police. MPs also patrolled US borders at Checkpoint Charlie Bravo, the US duty train which ran each night through the Russian sector, and participated in water patrol on Wannsee Lake. Jockheck received basic M16 rifle training. She also received training and was qualified with a .45 cal, .38 cal pistol, and sub-machine guns in Berlin.
While in the Army, Jockheck completed the MP Advance Course at Ft. McClellan, AL in 1978/1979. After completing the course, she was assigned to Ft. Bliss, TX and served as commander of the 978th Military Police Company. Her job was to train soldiers to deploy to Germany on a moment's notice. The soldiers in her company were eventually deployed to Ft. McCoy, WI to help with the Cuban Refugee Crisis. Jockheck did not lead her company in WI because her battalion commander decided that a female in charge would be in danger. She was ordered to remain in support in the rear detachment. Of that decision she says, “That decision was the most disappointing experience of my fourteen years of service. Even though the Army assimilate women to non-combat roles [in 1974], they decided in 1979/1980 that a women could not be ‘safe’ and serve equally…that command experience was the most rewarding and most disappointing of my Army career.” Jockheck is a 1980 graduate from the Combined Arms and Services Staff School in Ft. Leavenworth, KS. While in Berlin, she trained a group of MPs to compete in an International Police Shoot that was to be hosted by the French Police.
Throughout her career, Jockheck received multiple promotions, including to second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain. When she was off duty, she traveled and visited different places. She visited many places in West Germany, experiencing the German culture there. She also visited Moscow and Leningrad in Russia. Jockheck was able to visit these places via Euro-rail passes. On a parachute jump, Jockheck broke her left leg in three places. After undergoing numerous surgeries and five years of temporary medical leave, she received a disability rating and an honorable discharge from the Army in 1989 after fourteen years of service. Jockheck was awarded the Army of Occupation Medal for her service.
Biographical Text
Anne Jockheck (née Kownacki) was born on 1952-09-18 to Tadeusz and Helen (née Krusiesri) Kownacki in Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY. Her father, Tadeusz, was captain of the Mahwah police and a volunteer fireman for Company #2. He was also a World War II Army veteran who encouraged Jockheck to join the Marines. Her mother, Helen, was a homemaker. She has three siblings: Elaine, Antoinette, and Michael. She attended Immaculate Heart of Mary in Mahwah for kindergarten through eighth grade. For grades ninth through eleventh, she attended Immaculate Conception in Lodi, NJ. She completed her last year of high school at Mahwah High School in 1970. She is a 1974 graduate of Seton Hall University. During college, she worked part-time at Hanes Department Store, in Newark, NJ. She met William Jockheck, who was at West Point, during her senior year of college. After her Seton Hall graduation in 1974, she married her husband, William, in Mahwah, NJ. Shortly after their marriage, the Jockheck’s departed for Berlin, Germany. Jockheck was in Hawaii when she received her disability rating and honorable discharge. She remained there as William was still active duty. When William was discharged in 1993 after serving for twenty years, the Jockheck’s moved to his hometown in Redfield, SD. They have four children. With help from the GI Bill and veterans disability, Jockheck received her master’s degree in psychology/mental health counseling. Currently, she is working as a licensed counselor in SD, working primarily with children. She travels forty-three miles each way once a week to counsel children with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) who attend the Miller Schools in Miller, SD. She is a member of Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Each year, she visits her sister, Antoinette, and her parents, who are buried in Maryrest Cemetery.
What is your most vivid memory of your time training or in school? What was the best part? The esprit-de-corps developed at USMC was amazing.
What was the worst? Leaving my parents at home was very difficult. While the Army was advanced in bringing women into traditional male occupations, in general, they were not ready for women. For ex: women wore men’s uniforms in the “field” because there were not women-fatigues yet.
Does any particular instructor stand out in your mind? If yes, why? Col. Renke, at Seton Hall, greatly helped me transition to the Army after the USMC.
What was the hardest part of training? Physical training (PT) tests were annual and challenging
What was the hardest part of the military life-style for you to adapt to? Why do you think it was? Leaving family behind when assigned “overseas.”
What was the easiest part of the military life-style for you to adapt to? Why do you think it was? The camaraderie. I met many interesting people (foreign and American). I made life-long friends.
What are your recollections of that experience? I have many exciting experiences of “spy” stories from Berlin as many people escaped from the East German/Russian sector of the city. MP duty was to patrol US borders at Checkpoint Charlie Bravo, the US duty train which ran each night thru the Russian sector and water patrol on the Wannsee in Berlin.
What kind of friendships and camaraderie did you form while serving, and with whom? In EACH assignment, I made life-long friendships and I continue contact via visits and Facebook with those friends. My 3rd child was born in SHAPE Hqs. in Belgium. His godparents from Mons, Belgium were able to visit us in the US in later years.
What was the best part of your service experience? Pride in service to my country.
Did you continue any friendships after service? For how long? My longest friendship is with the family of my first 1st Sergeant of the MP Co. from Berlin.
How did service affect the way you relate to others? I believe I have a unique appreciation of foreign cultures and peoples of variety of faiths, customs, and beliefs.
How did your military service experiences affect your life? Very positively, there are many warm memories of service and people I met. But, today, I would not have gone on that parachute training, if I could turn back time. My disability presents with more aches and pains as I grow older.
What are some life lessons you learned from your military service? Self-discipline, commitment, tolerance.
How has your military service impacted your feelings about war and the military in general? I support the military 100%. Proudly, I am the mother of a West Point graduate (class 2012) who served in Afghanistan and is on active duty today.
What message would you like to leave for future generations who will view/hear this interview? Give back to your country for the freedoms and status we hold as Amerians. Be of service to your country.
“One day in Mons, Belgium, I had obtained a ‘day’ visa to go thru the French Border and visit Paris with some friends. As I left the French Embassy, I was approached by 2 women (in tears) from Holland. They requested my help in getting their visa approved by the French embassy. They were 2 sisters from China living in Holland but their mom lived in Paris and she was ill. I returned to the vista/French representative and asked how I could obtain a visa but these 2 women could not? I was told ‘You are American and they are not.’ It was my 1st experience realizing that my citizenship gave me freedoms, that many other people of other countries, do not enjoy. I could go to Paris because of being an American- not for anything I have done- just by being born American. It was a humbling and proud experience for me that I have tried to build into my children’s lives.”
“My dad was in WWII in the Army and injured at the Battle of the Bulge, Germany. As his daughter, I knew that. But when I entered service, the father-daughter relationship became deeper. When he was drafted he trained at Ft. McClellan, AL. 31 years later I was at WAC school at Ft. McClellan, AL. We shared many stories when he returned to Ft. McClellan for my graduation from the Officer’s Basic Course. That was the wonderful beginning of many shared experiences.
My parents came to visit us while we were in Belgium at SHAPE, Hqs. It was his wish to visit the site where he was wounded 50 years before. He stated that as a private he was unaware of the actual location so we set out to find it. We visited Gen. George Patton’s burial site in Luxembourg and then went to Bastogne to the Battle of the Bulge museum. After studying via the museum, where the US troops were placed and set out to visit every national cemetery where men from his unit may have been buried, many days later, he found his unit in Holland. He cried at their grave sites. The day after he was wounded and evacuated, there was a major German offensive that killed many, many of my dad’s unit. We know this to be true because my Uncle Joe Sowa said that when he learned of my dad’s hit, Uncle Joe came to the battle sight and turned over 100s of dead bodies, looking for my dad’s face.”
What would you like people to know or remember from your story? Be of service to our country.
What do you wish more people knew about veterans? Many wounded veteran’s continue to need support. Not just physically wounded but psychologically wounded that are in need of support. Do what you can to support.
Family Members
Mother: Helen
Siblings:
Elaine
Antoinette
Michael
Husband: William
Children: 4
Bibliography
Photo Captions
Photo 2: Anne (right) with her husband William (left), place and date of photo unknown (Anne Kownacki Jockheck).
Photo 3: Jockheck's (top row, fourth from left) graduation class from the U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate Class, 1972, (Anne Kownacki Jockheck).
Photo 4: Jockheck, (left) as the officer in charge of the US Army Military Police Shoot Team, who participated in the International Police Shoot in Berlin, Germany, (Anne Kownacki Jockheck).