Megan McClung (MET’06), an accomplished athlete and the first female Marine officer killed in the Iraq War, will be honored with a future class of naval landing ships bearing her name. Photo courtesy of Re McClung

Alumni

US Navy to Name Ships for BU Alumna Who Died in Combat in Iraq

Megan McClung (MET’06) was first female Marine officer killed in the Iraq War

Months after receiving an online master’s in criminal justice from Boston University, US Marine Major Megan McClung died in Iraq, killed with two Army colleagues by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Ramadi. A public affairs officer, McClung (MET’06) is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, a historic place of honor for US service members. 

Now she’s receiving a different sort of memorial. In January, outgoing Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that McClung’s name would christen a future class of medium landing ships, as well as the first ship in that class. 

The USS McClung will be one of 18 to 35 amphibious ships for transporting equipment and troops to, along, and back from shore. They will also support civilian humanitarian and maritime operations. The McClung is scheduled to be completed and delivered to the Navy in 2029.

Medium landing ships are to be smaller and less expensive than current amphibious ships. The McClung and other ships in its class will be able to operate at sea independently for 10 days, according to a Navy fact sheet.

“I am honored to name the first ship in this class after Major McClung,” Del Toro said, “a selfless leader and hero who embodied the highest ideals of service, honor, and loyalty to our nation.”

McClung, a 1995 honors graduate of the United States Naval Academy, was the first female Marine officer killed in Iraq War combat. She had abandoned her dream of becoming a naval fighter pilot because of air sickness and was commissioned as a Marine officer instead. (The Marines are part of the Navy; McClung grew up in a Marine family.) She served nine years on active duty, then a year in the Marine Corps Reserve, before returning to active duty in 2005 as a media relations officer in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province. Her tombstone is inscribed with the words of advice she offered to colleagues giving media interviews: “Be bold. Be brief. Be gone.”

During her two Iraq tours, she escorted journalists embedded with US forces. She was guiding Newsweek journalists with Army Captain Travis Patriquin and Specialist Vincent Pomante III when the IED killed the three of them in their vehicle. The journalists were in another vehicle and escaped injury.

“One of those journalists wrote to us after her death saying, ‘I thought I knew what I wanted to write; Megan guided me to the story that needed to be written,’” says Re McClung, Megan’s mother. She’d already glimpsed the impact of her daughter’s life when the officer assigned to notify the family of her death was in their living room. “The phone began ringing and never stopped for several days,” she says, “and the news trucks were lined up in the driveway.” 

Del Toro’s phone call to the family about the McClung class of ships came last year. “Naming a class of ships after someone is a gigantic honor. This was totally unexpected,” says McClung. Del Toro “explained that when he spoke with the commandant of the Marine Corps, they both agreed that she was their choice. They both knew of her contributions. For the family, it is an enduring point of her legacy, as this class of ships will be around for another 40 years.”

“A Truly Exceptional Marine”

Overcoming obstacles was standard procedure for McClung. In high school, she convinced her local school board to admit her to the men’s weight lifting class. When the Naval Academy turned down her first application, she spent a year at the preparatory Admiral Farragut Academy as a member of its first class of women. The second time she applied to the Naval Academy proved the charm. There, she started out as a competitive gymnast, later shifting to diving, her mother says. After graduation, she “became a marathoner and triathlete and Ironman, completing seven Ironman [competitions],” taking first place for military women in a 2000 Hawaiian event.

John Woodward, director of BU’s Division of Military Education, says the Navy follows naming protocols for different types of vessels, with medium landing ships such as the McClung commemorating military members.

“As Major McClung was a truly exceptional Marine who made the supreme sacrifice in Iraq, this honor is fitting and appropriate,” says Woodward, a professor of the practice of international relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. “I think the US Marine Corps described her best: ‘She was the type of leader you followed because you wanted to, not because you had to, and her boldness and generosity left an impression with her Marines that will remain a hallmark of leadership and selfless service in their lives and ours.’”

McClung’s name christening this future class of medium landing ships is not the first time the military has paid tribute to its fallen comrade. The broadcast studio at the former Camp Victory, near the Baghdad International Airport, was named for her in 2007. The Defense Information School in Maryland, which educates military communications personnel, gives a leadership award in her name to a graduating member. The school inducted her into its Hall of Fame last year.

Also, the Marine Corps presents the annual Major Megan McClung Leadership Award to a recipient demonstrating “leadership skills and their contributions towards the tenets of equal opportunity, human relations, and public service.”