Even before the Marines promoted him to sergeant, Jeffrey Bohr knew how to order people around.
He got plenty of practice on his four younger brothers.
"We all took a lot of knocks on the head," said the third-born son, Richard Bohr. "He kept everyone in line."
Bohr, a gunnery sergeant, was killed Thursday in a shootout outside a mosque in downtown Baghdad. Twenty-two American servicemen were wounded in the battle.
Bohr and his brothers were raised in the rolling hills of northeastern Iowa. They rode horses, drove motorcycles and cars, and played pick-up football in the back yard. Bohr always wanted to be quarterback.
He joined the Army at 17, but switched five years into his career because he expected the Marines would provide more opportunity for advancement.
Bohr, 39, was quiet, down-to-earth, and hard working. When he decided how he felt about something, it was difficult to change his mind. He always wanted to stand for something, which is probably why he joined the military, Richard Bohr said.
When Jeffrey Bohr was assigned to Camp Pendleton, he met a fellow Iowan, who was his opposite in many ways. He was serious and focused. Lori was the zany one, always laughing and acting silly.
They married in 1994, and the early years were difficult. Sometimes she wondered why she had married this earnest fellow. "He didn't know how to take his hat off," she said.
But gradually they rubbed off on each other.
"We kind of balanced out," she said.
She called him J.B. He called her baby. He said it so often, it drove her nuts. But it was hard not to love him. He was sweet.
When he came home each night, he'd yell out,
"Ba-beeeeeee, where are you?" If he found her sitting on the sofa, he'd grab a bottle of lotion and massage her feet.
He had the energy of five men. He could run all day with the young Marines he commanded, and study all night. He was planning for life after the military, and hoped to retire in two years.
"He spent 20 years doing what the military wanted him to do," his brother Richard said, "and he never really did what he wanted to do."
Union-Tribune library researcher Beth Wood contributed to this report.
Kristen Green: (619) 542-4576; kristen.green@uniontrib.com
