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| Down Under |
| Little boy's wait ended in tragedy |
| 2006-04-26 |
| ON the wall of the Kovco kitchen is a calendar marked, "Countdown until my Daddy comes home ..." Friday, April 21 is the last day marked on the calendar - the same day Private Kovco accidentally shot himself dead while serving in Iraq. Shelley Kovco yesterday spoke to The Daily Telegraph from her home in Victoria about her devastation at losing her husband of four years. "Tyrie and I used to cross off the calendar each night he was away, we were going to do it until he came back," Mrs Kovco said. Pte Kovco, 25, the father of Tyrie, 3, and Alana, nine months, was just weeks into a six-month deployment to the war zone when he died, surrounded by fellow soldiers. "They said there'll be 109 big hugs waiting for us when they get back [from Iraq]," Mrs Kovco said of her husband's former colleagues. "They [the children] have got 109 uncles who want to help support them." A doting father, Pte Kovco loved army life and had ambitions to join the elite SAS squad. He was in constant telephone contact with his wife and son, who saw him as a hero. "The whole time he was away, if anyone said to Tyrie, 'Where's Daddy?', he'd say, 'Gone to 'Raq', which was his way of saying 'Iraq'," Mrs Kovco said. "They'd say, 'What's he doing there?', and Tyrie would answer, 'He's making a better country'." Father and son enjoyed a close relationship and shared the same playful, knockabout persona. Pte Kovco grew up an avid hunter and also raced motorcross. A fun-loving toddler, Tyrie is showing signs of the same personality traits as his father. "Jake used to play the guitar out in the shed all the time, so Tyrie would get out there with his Wiggles guitar and they'd have a jam session," Mrs Kovco said. A "bloke's bloke", Pte Kovco loved the comradeship of the army and considered his fellow soldiers brothers. "I know he had his mates around him when he died," Mrs Kovco said. "He always classed his battalion as another type of family, so if we couldn't be there, at least they were there." Mrs Kovco said friends often asked if she worried about being alone while her husband was overseas, but she never thought tragedy would strike them. "Not once did I ever worry that he was going to be hurt or injured. I was so confident in him, and that he knew what he was doing, and also in the people he was with," she said. Pte Kovco realised a long-held ambition to join the army in March 2001, having applied the previous September. The two tied the knot in December 2001, after a whirlwind courtship. They moved to Wattle Grove in Sydney after Pte Kovco finished his training. Shelley and the children moved to the Victorian suburb of Sale when he went to Iraq so she could be close to their families. • You can donate to the Jake Kovco Appeal, to help his children, at any Bendigo Bank branch. |
| Posted by:Omoter Sport8251 |
| #3 No less a hero for the nature of his demise. IIRC, this is only the second Aussie death and none from direct combat. Pretty amazing when you consider these guys aren't in berets patrolling safe areas. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2006-04-26 22:45 |
| #2 109 uncles is nothing to sneeze at. May Tyrie and his sister grow up to make their Daddy proud. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-26 22:21 |
| #1 Thank you for your sacrifices Diggers. "Who Dares Wins" |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-04-26 21:01 |