Thank you to Kevin Martin for keeping me updated on the Major Megan McClung Memorial Half  I wrote about last month. I met Kevin during the Warrior Tours at the base called Al Asad. I learned that Major McClung was the first female Marine officer killed in the Iraq war, as well as the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to be killed in action since the school was founded in 1845. She was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetary on December 19, 2006.

McClung was a triathlete (having competed in six Ironman competitions) and a marathoner. In October 2006, she organized and ran in the Marine Corps Marathon’s satellite competition. Kevin sent this photo from the run held on August 15th and wrote to say that they had over 400 runners and 100 volunteers take part. That is awesome.