Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Eugene Watts
Born: March 8, 1976
Died: April 24, 2004 in Iraq
Petty Officer Second Class Christopher E. Watts of Knoxville, Tennessee attended Jefferson County High School through his junior year and graduated from Fleming-Neon High School in Neon, Kentucky. He enjoyed art class in school and was always a pleasant student who kept a smile on his face. Chris was full of life but was also a private person who didn’t like attention drawn to him. Growing up, he enjoyed being around the serenity of water, and at times he could be a bit of a risk taker. He joined the Navy in 1995 following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and was honored to be in the military. Chris already had ten years under his belt, and had planned to make it his career. He was killed at age 28 in a waterborne attack in the northern Persian Gulf. Chris was one of three servicemen to die in the attack in the northern Persian Gulf. The three were part of a seven-person boarding team from the Firebolt who were conducting maritime interception operations. A sailing vessel known as a dhow approached the Iraqi Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal and exploded as the men went to inspect it. He was assigned to the USS Firebolt, forward deployed to Manama, Bahrain. He leaves his mother, Brenda Rainwater, and his son, Jacob Christopher, among others.
Burial is at Cedar Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Maryville,Tennessee
The Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Eugene Watts by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
