Go to this link:
Maj. Megan McClung and Capt. Travis Patriquin, RIP
Megan McClung Remembered, Dan Collins
Another link
http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=63846
MEGAN McCLUNG: Major Megan McClung is my guardian angel today. McClung, a Marine officer, Naval Academy graduate, and most recently, the public affairs officer for the 1st Armored Divison's First Brigade Combat Team, choreographed my present journey through Iraq. As every journalist who has spent time in the American military universe here knows, public affairs officers in Iraq can make your life a mess or they can make it bearable. Whether securing me a seat on a flight that no one else knew existed, scoring an interview for me with a Sunni sheikh in Ramadi, or responding quickly and indulgently to the most inane questions a writer could think to ask, McClung did a difficult job cheerfully and she did it well. This is why First Brigade's Colonel Sean MacFarland stole her away from the Marines and why he could justifiably boast that he had one of the finest PAO's in Iraq. It is why reporters admired her. And it is why this sharp and talented young woman, who was killed by a roadside bomb a few days ago in Ramadi, can never be replaced.
--Lawrence F. Kaplan
From another link:
http://frankwarner.typepad.com/
Maj. Megan McClung’s death in Iraq is confirmed The Defense Department today confirmed the death of Marine Maj. Megan (Mason) McClung, 34, of Coupeville, Wash.
She died Dec. 6 in Ramadi, Iraq, when an IED blew up the vehicle she was riding in. She was the first woman Marine Corps officer killed in combat in Iraq. Sixty-four U.S. servicewomen have died there.
Megan McClung, who received her officer’s commission in 1995, was a Marine public affairs officer in Ramadi. Most recently, she played a role in correcting a false news story of a Nov. 13 U.S. airstrike that killed Iraqi civilians. The airstrike didn’t happen.
Marathon runner. McClung also was known to her friends as an avid runner. She organized and ran in the Oct. 29 Marine marathon race in Iraq, timed to coincide with a Marine marathon race back home in the United States.
She left active duty for a short time, going to Iraq in 2004 as a private contractor for Kellogg, Brown and Root, the Halliburton subsidiary. Then she came out of the Reserves and returned to Iraq in January as a Marine. In the Corps, she also lived in California, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Nancy, a friend, met her in 2000 when McClung became deputy director of the public affairs office at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, N.C. Nancy, still at Cherry Point, said the news of Megan’s death “took my breath away”:
“I finally came to my desk and the phone rang all day, phone calls from all over the United States. Every Marine that had worked in the office with us called to check on me, to offer condolences. We cried, we tried to comfort each other, and as we talked about Megan, many times we ended up laughing as we remembered something Megan had said or done. So many memories, so many laughing moments to share, though in the end, we had to realize Megan was gone.”
Two others dead. Another acquaintance, a soldier named Rusty, also was hit hard by her death, and the death of two other soldiers who died in the same IED attack:
“Her death comes as a real shock because we also lost two soldiers in that same truck. All three were over in our compound almost daily. All three were close friends to us here. They will be missed by us and forever carried on in our thoughts. I will miss Megan’s radiant personality and flaming red hair, Travis’ awesome stories of a lifetime of extrodinary events, and last but not at all least, my dear friend Vince. The gunner in the truck, the very truck they let me drive just about a week before..oh Vince, my freind, look over me as I finish my tour here, you will always be with me in some way.”
Travis and Vince were:
Capt. Travis L. Patriquin, 32, of Texas, and Spc. Vincent J. Pomante III, 22, of Westerville, Ohio.
Their sacrifice and the terrible sadness for their loss are reminders that every life is precious, and that if we are to have any chance for a lasting peace, we have to end this war with an Iraq that is democratic and secure.
If their deaths are to have meaning, this battle must be won for freedom. If we don’t want to fight the same war all over again, this battle must be won now.
Frank Warner
Here's a picture of here endorsing Syn-flex® for her triathlons.
"She is home now, and in the arms of God. If there is mourning, let it be tempered by this: valor walked among us, and we were blessed to see it...""God give comfort to those who will miss her - and we give thanks to God who gave her. We bless You, God, for her life, and we give her back to You, the God who made her. Bless her family and her comrades, that her work here will live on - in Jesus' name."
"dandelion" wrote this, and I think it is beautiful!
I echo "AMEN"!!
We can never repay the debt we owe this wonderful young woman!
We love you, "Major Megan McClung"!
Nancee
