June 23, 2005 Culinary Specialist 1st Class Regina Clark was killed by a vehicle-borne suicide bomb. She and two women Marines were killed with three male Marines. 

They were returning from an operation where they searched female Iraqis to appeal to cultural/religious sensitives.

Clark, a Centralia, Washington native, was a Navy Reservist assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 18 (NMCB 18) but volunteered to deploy with Naval Construction Regiment 30 a year before NMCB 18’s scheduled deployment. 

She again volunteered to be part of the all-women “Lioness” teams created to assist in searching local women who may be aiding insurgents. 

Also killed in the blast were Marine Cpls. Ramona Valdez and Holly Charette. 

Clark was a Desert Storm Veteran who was mobilized a week after 9/11. She served aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN 68). She was mobilized a second time in 2004, to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. 
To memorialize her sacrifice the Washington Department of Transportation named the state route 507 bridge over the Skookumchuk River in her honor.

According to the Center for Military readiness she was one of 98 U.S. women troops killed in Iraq. 

Clark has a memorial marker at Tahoma National Cemetery. She was 43. A single mother, she left behind her 18-year-old son. 

REGINA RENEE CLARK

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