On August 13, the fifth annual Major McLung Memorial 5K and 10K Runs will be held at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. The race commemorates the life of United States Marine Corps Major Megan McClung.
Major McClung was a 1995 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and she was killed in Ramadi, Iraq on December 6, 2006 when her vehicle struck an IED after a day of escorting Fox and Newsweek reporters around the city. She was the first female USMC officer killed in combat in the war, and because she was an extraordinary runner and triathlete –even organizing a marathon in Iraq to coincide with the running of the annual Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.– Major McClung’s parents, Michael and Re, and the Marines of Whidbey Island established the run to commemorate her life and raise funds for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund (www.semperfifund.org).
Fully 4,454 Americans have been killed in Iraq and 1,595 in Afghanistan since in the nearly ten years since the attack on America on 9/11. Tens of thousands more have been seriously wounded, and Major McClung’s parents explained to me on Friday’s radio show that raising funds to help these wounded heroes is the best tribute they can offer their amazing daughter. The Semper Fi Fund has raised just under $50 million in seven years, which has gone to more than 6,000 Marines, sailors and members of the other military branches who were wounded while serving with the Marines.
The Navy Seal Foundation (www.NavySealFoundation.org) supports the families of the fallen in that extraordinary community. The Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors (www.taps.org) serves the families of all who have fallen in the war. There are other wonderful groups as well, and new websites like www.military1click.com have sprung up to serve as connectors of all the organizations that serve both those still on the front lines, those wounded while there, and the children, spouses and parents of the thousands who gave their lives in this long and difficult war.
Early in the war an amazing group like Soldiers Angels (www.soldiersangels.com) or an incredible institution like the Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org) which provides for low cost lodging for the families of wounded staying near their hospitalized warriors, could count on the robust support of an aware and grateful country. There are scores of incredible groups serving various communities, and their specialized focus allows them to mobilize on behalf of specific groups of survivors or wounded. In my years of covering as many of them as possible, I have never heard one representative disparage or denigrate another group, a reflection perhaps of their shared commitment to holding up the families of the fallen, the wounded in recovery, or the deployed soldier, sailor, airman or Marine.
But as with all human efforts, time dulls the civilian world’s awareness of the sacrifices and of the needs. Our memories need jolting and our commitments renewal.
Two weeks ago former California Governor Pete Wilson, now a hard-driving, far-traveling spokesman for the National Museum of World War II in New Orleans was my guest on air for an hour. “Pete'” as he is simply known to millions of Californians, was passionate about the need to keep alive the memory of all those who died in that war and the wars before and since, and especially among a younger generation who are not only removed from the shock and horror of 9/11 but almost 70 years separated from Pearl Harbor.
Memorial Day is the occasion to recall the names of those whose sacrifices are known to you –Captain Mark Daly of Irvine, California and Lieutenant J.P. Blecksmith of San Marino, California are two– and to honor the hundreds of thousands of others killed defending the country. And not merely to remember, but also “to take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
