Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 11 and the entire Whidbey Island community suffered another blow Tuesday when two sailors were killed in Iraq.

Chief Petty Officer Patrick L. Wade, 38, of Manawa, Wis. and Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey L. Chaney, 35, of Omaha, Neb. were killed at 9:17 a.m. Tuesday while conducting combat operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“This is a great loss to their family, friends and the entire EOD community,” said Capt. Barry Coceano, Commander, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group One, in a news release. “Please take a moment to reflect upon and recognize the great sacrifice they made protecting our fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines operating in Iraq. They worked valiantly each and every day providing security to a populace unable to protect and defend itself at this time — a noble and righteous cause.”

The EOD team was reportedly escorting a battalion of U.S. Rangers in the south of Samarra when they were called to a location where an IED had detonated along the roadside. While in transit, according to the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Public Affairs Office, a bomb detonated against the team’s JERRV, a mine-protected vehicle designed to provide increased survivability to EOD and Combat Engineer Mine Clearing teams in known threat areas.

Both sailors were killed instantly and team member Petty Officer 1st Class David Hauxhurst was injured and medevacked out of the area. Hauxhurst was treated in Iraq and transported to Germany. The blast left a six-foot deep hole, 12-feet wide by 40-feet long, Gary said.

In the diminutive town of Manawa, Wis., where Wade grew up, the news of the tragedy rocked the tiny community.

“It’s kind of like shock,” Gary said. “Nobody can believe it happened.”

Wade’s wife, Keri, and his two daughters, 3-year-old Noelle and 10-month-old Esme, all of whom live in Oak Harbor, were camping in California with family when the news came. Gary, who lives in Royalton, a suburb of Manawa, went to his mother’s work to tell her about the death of her son.

“That’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” he said.

Wade has been in the Navy for 20 years, having joined after graduating from Little Wolf High School in Manawa in 1987. Gary said he was looking forward to his next promotion and ready to reenlist for another three years.

“He would always ask me about what to do when it came time to reenlist,” Wade’s brother remembered. “I said, ‘Pat, if you like what you’re doing and you’re having fun, keep doing it.’”

Wade originally wanted to become a Navy SEAL. When he did not make it, Gary said his brother chose the next best thing.

“He was following in his older brother’s footsteps,” he said. Their oldest brother, Bob, a 20-year veteran of the military, was killed in 1993 in a chopper accident in Japan. Wade’s mother, Shirley, was in the Air Force, and Gary spent four years in the Marine Corps.

Gary, 48, last saw his brother in April. Wade was deployed to Iraq shortly after being rotated from Rota, Spain to Whidbey Island.

“He didn’t even have time to unpack and he was gearing up for Iraq,” Gary said, adding that Wade was deployed about two months ago.

Remembering his brother, the ex-Marine said he was the kind of person others aspire to be. And his faith in his colleagues was unwavering.

“He was a great person,” Gary said. “He was always smiling, always upbeat, always trying to motivate you. He loved what he was doing. He had all the confidence in the people he was working with and the equipment he was using. He was a wonderful man.”

Wade’s remains were in Germany as of Wednesday and will be transported to Dover, Del. Gary said memorial services will likely be held in Manawa and Oak Harbor.

Gary is flying to Dover this morning to escort “a fine man home to Washington State” for a service in Oak Harbor with her brother’s wife and daughters. The rest of the family will meet up with Gary.

“After the services there he will be cremated and brought home to Wisconsin for services here and his ashes sprinkled over Bear Lake where we spent many days fishing, swimming, boating, ice fishing, etc. He was a fine man and will be sadly missed,” an e-mail from the family said.

Man with

no enemies

Even in war, Jeffrey Chaney had no enemies. The nature of his job allowed him to keep people out of harm’s way.

“Everyone’s got enemies,” said April Chaney, the 35-year-old sailor’s sister. “Not Jeff. He wanted everyone to be nice.”

April painted a picture of a man who loved and was equally loved. A man who never took his job for granted or the people around him.

“He was the most loved, most wonderful person in the world,” she said. “He loved his job to the fullest. He was goodhearted and did everything 150 percent.”

The 14-year Navy veteran was stationed in his hometown of Omaha for four years doing recruiting for his branch of the military. He was named Junior Recruiter of the Year his first year and Senior Recruiter of the Year two other years. He was so persuasive and passionate about the calling that his influence turned many young men and women into sailors.

“He was so good that he recruited our brother,” April said. “He said if they walked through that door they were going in the Navy.”

Chaney has one daughter, 14-year-old Brianna of Omaha. April said her birth was his proudest moment.

“Brianna is on vacation with friends,” she said. “She knows, but it really hasn’t hit her yet.”

Chaney enjoyed memorable details during his career. As a member of the EOD family, he was attached to the Secret Service to sweep for bombs at George H.W. Bush’s 80th birthday soiree. During the event, he met the former president and Mikhail Gorbachev.

“That was the highlight of his career at the time,” April said.

He also worked with the Secret Service during the most recent presidential election to do bomb sweeps for the candidates.

“He also did the National Republican Conference,” April added.

Like Wade, Chaney dreamed of becoming a Navy SEAL, but his eyesight prevented him from joining the elite group. And also like Wade, the sailor went with the next best specialist division.

“He loved it,” April reiterated.

In his 35 years, Chaney touched many lives and left volumes of stories and anecdotes. His good nature lent itself to leaving lasting impressions.

“People keep asking me for the one best story about Jeff,” April said. “There’s just so much to say about him. There isn’t just one Jeff story.”

Wade and Chaney are the fourth and fifth members of EOD-11 to be killed in Iraq. Chief Petty Officer Gregory J. Billiter, Petty Officer 2nd Class Curtis R. Hall and Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph “Adam” McSween were killed in Iraq in April.