League honors fallen Marine

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The Whidbey Island Marine Corps League has renamed itself the Major Megan McClung Whidbey Island Marine Corps League Detachment 1210 in honor of Major Megan McClung, a Marine officer with Whidbey roots who was killed last year in Iraq.

“Megan was a Marine’s Marine,” said McClung’s father, Michael McClung, a former captain in the Marine Corps. “She would have been honored.”

Major McClung was killed Dec. 6 in Iraq. She was a resident of Coupeville with her father Michael and mom Re.

McClung, 34, was a public affairs officer serving with the Camp Pendleton-based I Marine Expeditionary Force when she was killed by a roadside bomb in the city of Ramadi.

A local Marine who had served with her in Iraq suggested renaming the detachment and the league arranged the name change, Michael McClung said.

The Marine Corps League’s mission is to preserve the traditions and history of the Corps, and to aid Marines and their widows and orphans. The Whidbey Marine Corps League is only the latest organization to honor McClung.

McClung was the highest ranking military woman to die in the Iraq War. She was a 1995 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Among her other military decorations, she received the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. The state of Hawaii will award her its Medal of Honor later this month.

Her parents said they appreciate how many people cared for their daughter and her work, and have found ways to capture McClung’s spirit as well and preserve her memory.

“Be bold, be brief and be gone.”

That’s engraved in her gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery. Her parents said they felt it was well-suited for a short life lived to the fullest, and a statement that captured the spirit of the many sides of their daughter; traveler, athlete, journalist and friend. It was the credo that McClung taught to young public information officers.

“If God gives you those little babies, he doesn’t say how long you get to keep them,” McClung’s mother Re said. “We had 34 wonderful years.”

There has not yet been a day without a card or an e-mail from somebody remembering McClung, her parents said.

The family received more than 360 letters, e-mails and cards from people all over the country, including notes from the mayor of Chicago and Maria Shriver, who said McClung’s death touched them so deeply that they were compelled to write.

The public outpour of support has kept McClung’s death very close, the family said.

“It’s comforting, but it hurts. It’s still very raw,” her mother said. “We miss the future.”

McClung was remembered for her ability to excel at anything she tried, and for her dedication to serving her country.

McClung was a world-class athlete, competing in Ironman Triathlons and marathon events around the world.

She organized the first- ever Marine Corps Marathon (Forward), run last October in Al-Asad to honor fallen comrades.

Among fellow runners she was known as somebody who motivated and coached others. McClung sometimes finished her races just to grab some water bottles and turn around and help out other runners, the parents said.

Since her death, McClung’s belongings have arrived in Coupeville. Among them were triathlon bikes and a few keepsakes.

“It wasn’t much,” her mother said. Among the items was a quilt Re had made for Megan as a child.

“The things she saved were memories,” Re said, adding that McClung liked sharing her belongings with others.

“She’d give you everything,” she said.

Her parents carried on that spirit by giving her bikes to fellow triathletes.

“Things were not important to her, but friendship and loyalty were,” she added.

McClung is remembered as a happy, upbeat person. The family went through her baby pictures after her death and could find only one picture that showed their daughter with a serious expression on her face.

“She smiled from the day she was born to the day she died,” Re said.

Her parents don’t see her death as a tragedy.

“Some people want to make it that. It wasn’t a tragedy. She wanted to go back to Iraq. She had been there for a year as a contractor,” Re said.

“She believed in the freedom of the people. What happened was a terrible thing,” her mother added.

“We’re very proud of Meg,” her father said.

As a public information officer, McClung went above and beyond to make sure the journalists saw the real Iraq.

Her mother said McClung wanted the true stories told and worked to make sure that the journalists she helped to embed had everything they needed to tell the truth and not some preconceived story. McClung worked with local women’s groups and made journalists aware of other human interest issues in Iraq.

“She was very present. When you talked to her, you were the center of her universe,” Michael said.

“As a mom, I just admired her so much,” Re said. “She wanted women to be strong.

“I always believed that there were boundaries for women. My daughter never saw these in her career. She never even saw boundaries,” Re said.

“She had two speeds,” Michael said. “Asleep or full out.”