On this episode of Our American Stories, the word "hero" is often overused in today’s culture, but not when it comes to Megan McClung. Here's why her tombstone reads: "Be Bold. Be Brief. Be Gone."
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. The word hero
has been much misused in our present culture. Hereers are
people who put themselves in jeopardy and do it for
the benefit of others. Meghan McClung certainly fits that description.
Here to tell her story is Tom Cilio, author of
(00:30):
be Bold, How a Marine Corps Hero Broke barriers for
women at War. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I first stumbled on Megan's story during a walk through
Section sixty of Arlington National Cemetery, which is where so
many Post nine to eleven fallen heroes now rest. And
what really caught my eye is I walk through that
solemn sacred ground was six war words on Megan's white headstone.
(01:02):
They said, be bold, be brief, be Gone, and of
course had her awards and her branch the United States
Marine Corps, and the dates of her birth and death.
So you know, when I took the metro back to
my dad's house in Vienna, Virginia, the first thing I
wanted to do is find out who she was and
(01:25):
what those words meant. And that was way back in
twenty ten, and I've had an honor of a lifetime
to write a book about Megan and kind of answer
some of those questions that first popped into my mind
on that day at Arlington National Cemetery. So, Megan mclung
(01:46):
was born in Hawaii in nineteen seventy two. She was
the daughter of Reed mclung and Captain Mike McClung Senior,
who served in Vietnam during the Ted Defense of He
was also a Marine Corp officer. Both her grandfathers also
served our nation in World War Two. But you know,
(02:07):
one of the earliest stories that Megan's mom, Reid, told me,
as we started to, you know, discuss the book and
discuss Megan's life, was that she said, at a very
young age to her mom that I don't think there's
a glass ceiling or anything limiting me from what I
can become, just because I'm a girl. Reid tried to
(02:29):
explain to young Megan at the time, you know that
there are certain things that women haven't done yet, and
they weren't just talking about the military, just in general.
And Megan said, well, Mom, there's there's only a glass
ceiling if you can see it, and I don't see one.
And her mom explained this to me that, you know,
she didn't set out to be a trailblazer. She just
(02:54):
did not want anything to stop her from reaching her goals.
You know. One of the examples that really brought that
home for me was, you know, Megan at the very
beginning of high school. Her family settled down by the way,
after she was born in Hawaii, they eventually settled down
in Mission Viejo, California, and right in the beginning of
(03:18):
high school, there was a weightlifting class that Megan wanted
to enroll in, and there was a sign that said
no girls allowed. And Megan said, well, what do you
mean no girls allowed? That's not okay with me. So
her parents didn't even know this until after the fact,
but she went straight to the school board meeting and
argued her case for why she should be allowed to
(03:40):
be in that weightlifting class, and she won. She was
admitted to the class, and she really impressed the guys
in the class too, and I think many of them
couldn't keep up with her. But she was, you know,
from a very young age, she was athletic. She participated
in gymnastics at a very high level from a very
(04:00):
young age. But you know, as she grew up and
she became very focused on, you know, serving her country
in the military like her father did. She spoke to
her father. They had a very close bond. You know,
we're back in you know, nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety,
and you know, there was one thing that really struck me.
(04:23):
One of her friends from high school told me about
when Megan was really starting to get serious about going
to one of the service academies. She wanted to be
a fighter pilot, and she was looking at both the
Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy, and her friend
said to her, you know, hey, Megan, you know, isn't
this dangerous? You know, we always watched the movie Top
(04:45):
Gun together and Goose dies in that movie and so
do other characters, and you know, this is real life,
Like aren't you afraid of of what could happen to you?
And Megan responded and said, we're all going to die.
I'd rather die in the battle field. And again, this
is a sixteen or seventeen year old high school student talking.
(05:06):
So she wrote she wrote an essay for, you know,
admission to the Naval Academy. She said, I have several
long range goals for my life. The primary goal is
to be a military officer. I would like the opportunity
to become a career officer in an aviation field. To conclude,
I believe that I would be an asset to the
military and a strong leader. I hope that the academy
(05:28):
will recognize my strengths and select me for an appointment
to Annapolis. There I can pursue my desire to honorably
serve my country. And that was in the year November nineteenth,
nineteen eighty nine. So you know, it seemed like, you know,
with her drive and you know she had solid grades
and a family history of serving, that she would have
(05:50):
been a shoe in for the Naval Academy. But she
actually her application was denied, which was a probably the
first big setback in Megan's life and in her career.
But as her mom told me, Megan would always say,
we don't give up. We find another way. So what
Megan decided to do instead was apply to a preparatory
(06:14):
military academy and she was accepted as the first female
cadet in the history of that school. So she went
to Tom's River, New Jersey and began her year at
Admiral Farragut Academy with a goal of you know, if
(06:34):
I can impress my commanding officers here and get good grades,
that maybe the Naval Academy will give me another shot.
And she had a lot of challenges there. She was,
you know, competing against the boys, but also never wanting
to make excuses or say, well, I can't compete at
this level because I'm a female. She never did that.
(06:56):
She just tried her best and tried to keep up,
and she did and in many cases she went far
beyond her male classmates. So she also tried out I
think it was during a summer break in a fighter
pilot program and realized that she couldn't handle the g force.
So she knew that she would not be up in
(07:18):
the air if she joined the military and would have
to find a different track. I think that's when she
started to look at the Marine Corps versus the Navy.
So anyway, in nineteen nineties, she was accepted to the
Naval Academy, one of only five students at Admiral Farragut
Academy to be admitted, and she officially became a member
(07:39):
of the Naval Academy Class of nineteen ninety five. Obviously
a huge moment and a proud moment in her life
and for her dad and her mom and everybody and
her family. So Megan goes to Annapolis and gets started
and quickly realizes how difficult of an environment it would
be for her, not just because she was a female,
(08:01):
but the academic riggers. Along with competing in gymnastics, she
also started to have some injuries and physical challenges. And
at the end of the day she graduated nineteen ninety
five and became a second lieutenant in the United States
Marine Corps. So I found a journal that Megan kept
(08:23):
and also a book full of quotes that meant a
lot for her, and early on after she joined the
Marine Corps she wrote this on in a note card.
It said, I joined the Marine Corps to support my
country and will go where needed. I'm proud to serve
as a US Marine and I'm ready to do whatever
is needed to support the American people and our interests.
(08:45):
I think another thing that really fascinated me about Megan's
journey and the journey of anyone who joined the military
in those days. They had no idea what was coming
around the corner. That on graduation day in nineteen ninety five,
six short years later, America would be attacked and life
(09:05):
as really all of us knew it, but particularly those
who served in the military, would change in ways they
never could have imagined.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And you've been listening to author Tom cilio tell the
story of Megan McClung. There's only a glass ceiling if
you see one. Megan told her mom about doing things
that well women generally weren't thought to do. Back when
she was young. She was focused, like her dad, on
a career in the military, and her grandfathers both served
(09:36):
in World War Two. Her father was a Marine and
served in Vietnam. He went to prep school and the
very next year she was at Annapolis, the US Naval Academy,
and graduated in ninety five a second lieutenant in the
Marine Corps. When we come back more of Megan McClung's
story here on our American stories, and we continue with
(10:10):
our American stories and author Tom Cilio his book be Bold,
How a Marine Corps Hero broke barriers for women at War.
He's telling the story of Megan McClung. Let's pick up
where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Megan was actually in Cherry Point, North Carolina at the time.
She chose to be a public affairs officer actually because
her dad told her that if there was a conflict
someday and she wanted to be close to the action
as a woman, that was really the best way to
do it, because public affairs officers have to cover the
(10:48):
battles and the war, and Megan would get to go
where the men who were fighting would get to go.
At the time, women were barred from combat roles. I
even put some polls in the book from the time
where you know, the vast majority of the public did
not want women on the front lines or anywhere near them,
(11:08):
and politicians there were definitely some that wanted to remove
that barrier, but many didn't because you know, they looked
at the polls and said, well, the people aren't demanding it,
then why bother. But Megan wanted to be as close
to the action as she could be, even before nine
to eleven. But on that day when she was at
(11:29):
Cherry Point, Megan said, well, okay, it's two thousand and one,
We're going to war in Afghanistan. How can I get
there as quickly as possible? And when it became apparent
to her actually that she was not going to get
to go to a Iraq or Afghanistan in her current role.
She actually took the step of going to the Marine
(11:51):
Corps Reserve and joining a private military contractor. She signed
a one year contract because she thought that was the
best way for her to get to the Middle East
as soon as possible. She actually asked during every job interview,
she asked that question, how fast can you get me
to the Middle East? But there were also some limitations
(12:12):
when she got there. She initially went to Kuwait as
a contractor, and at first they didn't want her to
go to Iraq. They were afraid that if a woman,
especially was killed in Iraq civilian contractor who's also in
the Marine Corps Reserve, that it would create negative headlines
for the company. She just would not give in until
(12:36):
they finally let her go to Baghdad and file one
story per day about what our troops and other civilian
contractors were doing there to not only help turn the
tide in the conflict, but to help the Iraqi people.
One of the things she did as a contractor was
(12:56):
start she had read something back home about a little
girl who wanted to send beanie baby dolls over to
the Iraqi children and Megan saw that, and another friend
of her saw that, and they said, well, let's do it.
Let's make it happen. And you know, for the next
few months, Megan was busy going through crates full of
(13:17):
beanie babies and trying to get them out to the
civilian population. That really meant something. I mean, there were
marines going into war zones to give these children just
to make their days a little bit brighter, and to
tell the Iraqis that hey, we're on your side here,
and you know, we're against al Qaeda, and they're not
(13:38):
here giving you beanie babies. They're forcibly strapping suicide vests
on your kids and sending them out to kill Americans.
So Megan started developing relationships with the wives of some
of the local elders and tribal officials in Iraq. And yeah,
they saw her putting on on some face cream at
(14:01):
one point and wanted to try it out and they
loved it. So immediately Megan sent an email to her
mom and said, send as much facial cream as you
can immediately, just like when she started the beanie baby effort.
And again it was just a small but significant way
to show them that we're on your side, we want
(14:23):
to be your friends, and we care about you. Again,
those were things that, you know, thinking back to the
way the war was covered at the time, you wouldn't
see a lot of stories like that, but Megan said, hey,
these things matter, and you know, just like she did
another story about a you know, a crew of civilian
contractors who would go out and fix military vehicles that
(14:46):
were stuck at night and risk their lives to do so,
and just a lot of the unsung heroes of war
that you don't hear too often about. That really mattered
to Megan, and she really wanted to both get those
stories out and also help win those hearts and minds
of Iraqis. So after Megan got through her time at
(15:06):
the contractor, she was actually more convinced than ever that
she needed to go back to Iraq a second time,
because she felt there were limitations on what she could
do as a contractor in terms of telling stories and
that you know, news outlets at home. The civilian contractor
(15:26):
would pitch stories to news outlets and many of them
were ignored, which really stung for Megan because she was
working so hard to get out there into Baghdad risking
her life, you know, and there was an incident, very
close call for her during an attack in Baghdad on
the vehicle she was riding in, and you know, she
(15:48):
was undaunted by it. She wanted to go back, but
said she told her friend when she got home, she goes,
I'm going back there, but this time I'm going back
on active duty as a marine and maybe this time,
and finally she realized that she would get her opportunity.
She was a captain then, So Megan deployed in late
(16:10):
two thousand and five early two thousand and six to Fallujah,
Iraq and Ambar Province. And I think anybody who has
read or remembers what was going on in Iraq in
two thousand and six will recall that Fallujah and the
Ambar Province as a whole was frankly the most violent
(16:31):
place on Earth at the time. And when she got there,
you know, there were attacks almost every single day in
Fallujah and around Ambar Province, basically an all out civil war.
Al Qaeda in Iraq was becoming a brutal force to
be reckoned with it already was, frankly, and the sectarian
(16:52):
violence was just off the charts. But Megan tried to
focus on all the good that American troops were trying
to do during such a brutal time. You know, as
she started going through the deployment, she started noticing some
changes in Ambar Province and what it was was the
(17:13):
early stages of what became known as the Ambar Awakening,
where local Iraqi tribes realized that al Qaeda was the enemy.
And it was you know, toward the last third of
it that Megan got called into her commanding officer's office
and said, we'd actually like you to go to Ramadi
(17:36):
because you know, there's some really key leadership engagements happening
there to try to turn the tide overall in Ambar Province.
And even though Ramadi actually had become more violent than
Felujah at that point, you know, Megan immediately jumped at
the opportunity and she joined the Ready first Combat Team
as a public affairs officer, and you know, Meagan really
(18:00):
got to get out there, even though it was incredibly
dangerous and tell those stories about, you know, all the
progress that was being made, you know, regardless of one's
viewpoint on the Iraq War and the ultimate outcome of
what happened there was clearly a transformation that took place
at that time. And then you know, combined with the
(18:23):
surge effort and General Petraeus's strategy, that really did turn
the tide of the Iraq War at the time, and
Megan played a key role in that.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And you're listening to author Tom Cilio tell the story
of Meghan McClung, and my goodness, this is a woman
who wanted to be where the action was. At the time,
women were borrowed from combat, So whatever could get her
closest to combat, that's where she wanted to be. How
fast can you get me to the Middle East? She
would hector whoever she could. And in two thousand and six,
(18:57):
after going through a couple of contractors, he finds herself in,
of all places, well, the most violent place on Earth
at the time, Anbar Province, in the battles of Fallujah
and ultimately the Ramadi because it turns out there was
an awakening occurring in Anbar. The locals had discovered that
al Qaeda was their real enemy. When we come back
(19:20):
more of this remarkable story, the story of Megan McClung.
Here on our American stories, and we continue with our
American Stories and Meghan McClung's story as told by author
(19:44):
Tom cilio Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Obviously, technology was more limited in two thousand and six,
and despite that, she was still taking online courses at
Boston University Metropolitan College, and eventually they earned her masters
in Criminal Justice, which, you know, to think that somebody
is in a place like Felujah or Ramadi and able
(20:09):
to earn a master's degree kind of speaks to, you know,
the kind of person Megan was in the drive that
she had and another big thing that Megan had taken
on after she was unable to continue competing in gymnastics
at the Naval Academy for both some injuries she suffered
(20:29):
and also the team being contracted, Megan got very interested
in running marathons and then eventually triathlons and the Ironman triathlon,
and she competed all over the country in the world
in those events and one of the things that she
wanted to do in Iraq. After running the Marine Corps
(20:50):
Marathon in Washington, d C. Megan said, well, hey, why
can't we do it over here? So what if we're
in a war zone, we can still run and she
wound up being instrumental in organizing the first ever Marine
Corps Marathon Forward, which was held I believe in November
of two thousand and six near Fallujah. She actually had
(21:12):
to fly back there to you know, work on the
race and officiate it. And she worked so hard on that,
in addition to her studies at Boston University to make
the race happen. And it was a huge success, and
it continues to this day in the Middle East and
around the world. And they even hand out an award
(21:32):
at the Marine Corps Marathon in DC for Megan. It's
called the Penguin Award and it's given to the last
place finisher because Megan would never quit no matter what. So,
you know, the race had occurred. Megan went back to
Ramadi on December sixth, two thousand and six, you know,
late in the evening back in the United States, her
(21:53):
dad tried to reach her over Google Chat and Megan said,
you know, Dad, sorry, I'm just so busy. Right now.
We have a newsweek team coming in along with Fox
News War Stories with Oliver North, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant
Colonel Oliver North, and you know, I have a huge
(22:13):
day tomorrow and I want to make sure I'm prepared.
Her dad said, I love you, and that was the
end of the conversation. Well, that day December sixth, two
thousand and six, and Ramadi wound up being, you know,
a day that nobody who knew Megan would ever forget
started with her being incredibly enthusiastic to take Oliver North's
(22:37):
Fox News crew out into Ramadi and show them the
progress that was being made. You know, when they dropped
off Colonel North and his crew at another base, he
patted her on the shoulder and told her she was
a great marine. And you know, one of the really
special things about the way this book came together is
that Oliver North is one of the co founders of
(23:00):
Idell's Publishing, so he actually got to meet Megan and
then wound up publishing a book about her all these
years later. And thank you, Colonel North for believing in
this project and wanting to help tell Megan's story. So
after the Fox News and bed, she escorted a team
of Newsweek journalists. So was their second trip of the day,
(23:23):
and just to really think about what it meant at
the time to get in a military vehicle and ride
through a place like Ramadi, just by getting in to
the truck and driving around, you were risking your life
because there were not only snipers in the buildings and
on top of the buildings, but there were improvised explosive
(23:44):
devices known as IEDs buried all over the place that
would killing name American troops, Iraqi troops and civilians innocent
civilians alike. So you know, when I say getting the
truck and drive around, you know there's real risk involved.
And Megan was willing to do that not once, but
twice in one day because she wanted that Newsweek team
(24:08):
to get the real story about what was going on
in Ramadi. So she was riding in a humvy with
Captain Patrican and a specialist Vincent Palmonte, as well as
their driver, and they were going through Ramadi, not in
the same vehicle as the Newsweek team, and their vehicle
(24:28):
wound up hitting an IED. It blew up right under Megan,
killed her instantly. Captain Patrican and Specialist Pamonte were also killed.
The driver survived and was very heroic in trying to
save the lives of others, as were the Newsweek team.
The Newsweek reporter helped throw water on the driver who
(24:52):
had suffered burns. And it was a terrible moment that
nobody who knew Megan would ever forget. But it was
also a historic moment because afterwards it became clear that
not only was Megan the highest ranking female Marine officer
to make the ultimate sacrifice during the Iraq War, but
(25:13):
she was also the first female Naval Academy graduate in
the history of the institution, dating back to the eighteen
hundreds to be killed in action. And another thing that
you know, started to spread like wildfire after Megan was
killed was the words that wound up being on her
headstone at Arlington, those six words that I saw while
(25:35):
I was walking through be bald, be brief, begone. You know.
It was some of the officers, the fellow public affairs
officers that began to share that with her family and
with other reporters, and they said, well, that was actually
be bold, be brief, begone. Were the instructions Megan would
give us when dealing with the media, you know, get
(25:56):
your point across, don't take too long, and get out there,
whether it was the media or briefing senior military officers.
But as Megan made the ultimate sacrifice, and through all
the tears that were shed that followed, they realized that
it perfectly summarized how Megan lived her thirty four years.
(26:17):
Be bold, be brief, be gone, and her legacy has
only grown from a state of the arts studio that
was built in Baghdad for public affairs officers and was
named after her, to a building at the Defense Information School,
which Megan attended at Fort Meade, to her bronze Star.
(26:39):
And then you know another thing that really struck me
as well, as she once wrote in her yearbook, actually
at Admiral Farragut Academy, as the first woman to ever attend,
she said, I'm more scared of being nothing than I
am of being hurt. Megan's parents also politely pushed back
whenever journalists, including yours, truly referred to their daughter's death
(27:00):
as tragic. And when I said that to Ree, she
jumped right in. When I said, oh, I'm so sorry
about the tragic death of your daughter, she immediately said
that to me. She said, this is not a tragedy.
When someone gets to do what they've always wanted to
do and make the ultimate sacrifice while doing it, that's
(27:22):
not tragic. It's a heroic and beautiful thing I'm paraphrasing.
After Megan was killed, they had a memorial service for
her in the war zone in Ramadi, Iraq. This was
on December ninth, two thousand and six, so three days
after Megan was killed, and obviously a very emotional ceremony,
(27:43):
and one of the speakers was Marine Lieutenant Colonel John Church,
who Megan had served under many years earlier, and he
gave a very emotional speech about Megan. This is a
tough day, but perhaps the following words will allow us
some soft as we remember Major Meghan Malia Leilani McClung
(28:04):
and go forward as valiantly as she did and make
al Ambar Province a safer place. We can picture her
saying to us, do not stand at my grave and wheep.
I am not there. I do not sleep. I am
a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints
on the snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
(28:24):
I am the gentle autumn's rain when you awaken, the
morning's hush. I am the swift, uplifting rush of quiet
birds encircled flight. I am the soft star that shines
at night do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there. I did not die. What Lieutenant
(28:45):
Colonel Church couldn't have known while delivering his address in
Ramadi on December ninth, two thousand and six, was that
more than fourteen years earlier? Meghan copied that exact poem
down in her quote book. It was dated November fifteenth,
nineteen ninety two, which meant she almost certainly scribbled down
the unknown author's words as a young midshipman on a
(29:08):
chili fall night in Annapolis.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by her own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
Tom Cilio. His book Be Bold, How a Marine Corps
Hero Broke Barriers for Women at War, is available wherever
you buy your books. What a legacy Megan McClung left behind.
She was the highest ranking female Marine officer to be
(29:31):
killed in action, and she was the first female graduate
from Minnapolis to be killed in action. She was thirty four,
But her legacy has only grown in large measure thanks
to people like Tom and so many others in the
Marine Corps. I'm more scared of being nothing than being hurt,
(29:52):
she would say on December sixth, two thousand and six.
That happened. She was more than hurt, killed by an
ied In Ramadi, the most dang jerous work there could
be in the world at the time. The death was
not tragic, as the mother said. He died doing what
she wanted to do. The story of Megan McClung here
(30:12):
on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. The word hero
has been much misused in our present culture. Hereers are
people who put themselves in jeopardy and do it for
the benefit of others. Meghan McClung certainly fits that description.
Here to tell her story is Tom Cilio, author of
(00:30):
be Bold, How a Marine Corps Hero Broke barriers for
women at War. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I first stumbled on Megan's story during a walk through
Section sixty of Arlington National Cemetery, which is where so
many Post nine to eleven fallen heroes now rest. And
what really caught my eye is I walk through that
solemn sacred ground was six war words on Megan's white headstone.
(01:02):
They said, be bold, be brief, be Gone, and of
course had her awards and her branch the United States
Marine Corps, and the dates of her birth and death.
So you know, when I took the metro back to
my dad's house in Vienna, Virginia, the first thing I
wanted to do is find out who she was and
(01:25):
what those words meant. And that was way back in
twenty ten, and I've had an honor of a lifetime
to write a book about Megan and kind of answer
some of those questions that first popped into my mind
on that day at Arlington National Cemetery. So, Megan mclung
(01:46):
was born in Hawaii in nineteen seventy two. She was
the daughter of Reed mclung and Captain Mike McClung Senior,
who served in Vietnam during the Ted Defense of He
was also a Marine Corp officer. Both her grandfathers also
served our nation in World War Two. But you know,
(02:07):
one of the earliest stories that Megan's mom, Reid, told me,
as we started to, you know, discuss the book and
discuss Megan's life, was that she said, at a very
young age to her mom that I don't think there's
a glass ceiling or anything limiting me from what I
can become, just because I'm a girl. Reid tried to
(02:29):
explain to young Megan at the time, you know that
there are certain things that women haven't done yet, and
they weren't just talking about the military, just in general.
And Megan said, well, Mom, there's there's only a glass
ceiling if you can see it, and I don't see one.
And her mom explained this to me that, you know,
she didn't set out to be a trailblazer. She just
(02:54):
did not want anything to stop her from reaching her goals.
You know. One of the examples that really brought that
home for me was, you know, Megan at the very
beginning of high school. Her family settled down by the way,
after she was born in Hawaii, they eventually settled down
in Mission Viejo, California, and right in the beginning of
(03:18):
high school, there was a weightlifting class that Megan wanted
to enroll in, and there was a sign that said
no girls allowed. And Megan said, well, what do you
mean no girls allowed? That's not okay with me. So
her parents didn't even know this until after the fact,
but she went straight to the school board meeting and
argued her case for why she should be allowed to
(03:40):
be in that weightlifting class, and she won. She was
admitted to the class, and she really impressed the guys
in the class too, and I think many of them
couldn't keep up with her. But she was, you know,
from a very young age, she was athletic. She participated
in gymnastics at a very high level from a very
(04:00):
young age. But you know, as she grew up and
she became very focused on, you know, serving her country
in the military like her father did. She spoke to
her father. They had a very close bond. You know,
we're back in you know, nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety,
and you know, there was one thing that really struck me.
(04:23):
One of her friends from high school told me about
when Megan was really starting to get serious about going
to one of the service academies. She wanted to be
a fighter pilot, and she was looking at both the
Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy, and her friend
said to her, you know, hey, Megan, you know, isn't
this dangerous? You know, we always watched the movie Top
(04:45):
Gun together and Goose dies in that movie and so
do other characters, and you know, this is real life,
Like aren't you afraid of of what could happen to you?
And Megan responded and said, we're all going to die.
I'd rather die in the battle field. And again, this
is a sixteen or seventeen year old high school student talking.
(05:06):
So she wrote she wrote an essay for, you know,
admission to the Naval Academy. She said, I have several
long range goals for my life. The primary goal is
to be a military officer. I would like the opportunity
to become a career officer in an aviation field. To conclude,
I believe that I would be an asset to the
military and a strong leader. I hope that the academy
(05:28):
will recognize my strengths and select me for an appointment
to Annapolis. There I can pursue my desire to honorably
serve my country. And that was in the year November nineteenth,
nineteen eighty nine. So you know, it seemed like, you know,
with her drive and you know she had solid grades
and a family history of serving, that she would have
(05:50):
been a shoe in for the Naval Academy. But she
actually her application was denied, which was a probably the
first big setback in Megan's life and in her career.
But as her mom told me, Megan would always say,
we don't give up. We find another way. So what
Megan decided to do instead was apply to a preparatory
(06:14):
military academy and she was accepted as the first female
cadet in the history of that school. So she went
to Tom's River, New Jersey and began her year at
Admiral Farragut Academy with a goal of you know, if
(06:34):
I can impress my commanding officers here and get good grades,
that maybe the Naval Academy will give me another shot.
And she had a lot of challenges there. She was,
you know, competing against the boys, but also never wanting
to make excuses or say, well, I can't compete at
this level because I'm a female. She never did that.
(06:56):
She just tried her best and tried to keep up,
and she did and in many cases she went far
beyond her male classmates. So she also tried out I
think it was during a summer break in a fighter
pilot program and realized that she couldn't handle the g force.
So she knew that she would not be up in
(07:18):
the air if she joined the military and would have
to find a different track. I think that's when she
started to look at the Marine Corps versus the Navy.
So anyway, in nineteen nineties, she was accepted to the
Naval Academy, one of only five students at Admiral Farragut
Academy to be admitted, and she officially became a member
(07:39):
of the Naval Academy Class of nineteen ninety five. Obviously
a huge moment and a proud moment in her life
and for her dad and her mom and everybody and
her family. So Megan goes to Annapolis and gets started
and quickly realizes how difficult of an environment it would
be for her, not just because she was a female,
(08:01):
but the academic riggers. Along with competing in gymnastics, she
also started to have some injuries and physical challenges. And
at the end of the day she graduated nineteen ninety
five and became a second lieutenant in the United States
Marine Corps. So I found a journal that Megan kept
(08:23):
and also a book full of quotes that meant a
lot for her, and early on after she joined the
Marine Corps she wrote this on in a note card.
It said, I joined the Marine Corps to support my
country and will go where needed. I'm proud to serve
as a US Marine and I'm ready to do whatever
is needed to support the American people and our interests.
(08:45):
I think another thing that really fascinated me about Megan's
journey and the journey of anyone who joined the military
in those days. They had no idea what was coming
around the corner. That on graduation day in nineteen ninety five,
six short years later, America would be attacked and life
(09:05):
as really all of us knew it, but particularly those
who served in the military, would change in ways they
never could have imagined.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And you've been listening to author Tom cilio tell the
story of Megan McClung. There's only a glass ceiling if
you see one. Megan told her mom about doing things
that well women generally weren't thought to do. Back when
she was young. She was focused, like her dad, on
a career in the military, and her grandfathers both served
(09:36):
in World War Two. Her father was a Marine and
served in Vietnam. He went to prep school and the
very next year she was at Annapolis, the US Naval Academy,
and graduated in ninety five a second lieutenant in the
Marine Corps. When we come back more of Megan McClung's
story here on our American stories, and we continue with
(10:10):
our American stories and author Tom Cilio his book be Bold,
How a Marine Corps Hero broke barriers for women at War.
He's telling the story of Megan McClung. Let's pick up
where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Megan was actually in Cherry Point, North Carolina at the time.
She chose to be a public affairs officer actually because
her dad told her that if there was a conflict
someday and she wanted to be close to the action
as a woman, that was really the best way to
do it, because public affairs officers have to cover the
(10:48):
battles and the war, and Megan would get to go
where the men who were fighting would get to go.
At the time, women were barred from combat roles. I
even put some polls in the book from the time
where you know, the vast majority of the public did
not want women on the front lines or anywhere near them,
(11:08):
and politicians there were definitely some that wanted to remove
that barrier, but many didn't because you know, they looked
at the polls and said, well, the people aren't demanding it,
then why bother. But Megan wanted to be as close
to the action as she could be, even before nine
to eleven. But on that day when she was at
(11:29):
Cherry Point, Megan said, well, okay, it's two thousand and one,
We're going to war in Afghanistan. How can I get
there as quickly as possible? And when it became apparent
to her actually that she was not going to get
to go to a Iraq or Afghanistan in her current role.
She actually took the step of going to the Marine
(11:51):
Corps Reserve and joining a private military contractor. She signed
a one year contract because she thought that was the
best way for her to get to the Middle East
as soon as possible. She actually asked during every job interview,
she asked that question, how fast can you get me
to the Middle East? But there were also some limitations
(12:12):
when she got there. She initially went to Kuwait as
a contractor, and at first they didn't want her to
go to Iraq. They were afraid that if a woman,
especially was killed in Iraq civilian contractor who's also in
the Marine Corps Reserve, that it would create negative headlines
for the company. She just would not give in until
(12:36):
they finally let her go to Baghdad and file one
story per day about what our troops and other civilian
contractors were doing there to not only help turn the
tide in the conflict, but to help the Iraqi people.
One of the things she did as a contractor was
(12:56):
start she had read something back home about a little
girl who wanted to send beanie baby dolls over to
the Iraqi children and Megan saw that, and another friend
of her saw that, and they said, well, let's do it.
Let's make it happen. And you know, for the next
few months, Megan was busy going through crates full of
(13:17):
beanie babies and trying to get them out to the
civilian population. That really meant something. I mean, there were
marines going into war zones to give these children just
to make their days a little bit brighter, and to
tell the Iraqis that hey, we're on your side here,
and you know, we're against al Qaeda, and they're not
(13:38):
here giving you beanie babies. They're forcibly strapping suicide vests
on your kids and sending them out to kill Americans.
So Megan started developing relationships with the wives of some
of the local elders and tribal officials in Iraq. And yeah,
they saw her putting on on some face cream at
(14:01):
one point and wanted to try it out and they
loved it. So immediately Megan sent an email to her
mom and said, send as much facial cream as you
can immediately, just like when she started the beanie baby effort.
And again it was just a small but significant way
to show them that we're on your side, we want
(14:23):
to be your friends, and we care about you. Again,
those were things that, you know, thinking back to the
way the war was covered at the time, you wouldn't
see a lot of stories like that, but Megan said, hey,
these things matter, and you know, just like she did
another story about a you know, a crew of civilian
contractors who would go out and fix military vehicles that
(14:46):
were stuck at night and risk their lives to do so,
and just a lot of the unsung heroes of war
that you don't hear too often about. That really mattered
to Megan, and she really wanted to both get those
stories out and also help win those hearts and minds
of Iraqis. So after Megan got through her time at
(15:06):
the contractor, she was actually more convinced than ever that
she needed to go back to Iraq a second time,
because she felt there were limitations on what she could
do as a contractor in terms of telling stories and
that you know, news outlets at home. The civilian contractor
(15:26):
would pitch stories to news outlets and many of them
were ignored, which really stung for Megan because she was
working so hard to get out there into Baghdad risking
her life, you know, and there was an incident, very
close call for her during an attack in Baghdad on
the vehicle she was riding in, and you know, she
(15:48):
was undaunted by it. She wanted to go back, but
said she told her friend when she got home, she goes,
I'm going back there, but this time I'm going back
on active duty as a marine and maybe this time,
and finally she realized that she would get her opportunity.
She was a captain then, So Megan deployed in late
(16:10):
two thousand and five early two thousand and six to Fallujah,
Iraq and Ambar Province. And I think anybody who has
read or remembers what was going on in Iraq in
two thousand and six will recall that Fallujah and the
Ambar Province as a whole was frankly the most violent
(16:31):
place on Earth at the time. And when she got there,
you know, there were attacks almost every single day in
Fallujah and around Ambar Province, basically an all out civil war.
Al Qaeda in Iraq was becoming a brutal force to
be reckoned with it already was, frankly, and the sectarian
(16:52):
violence was just off the charts. But Megan tried to
focus on all the good that American troops were trying
to do during such a brutal time. You know, as
she started going through the deployment, she started noticing some
changes in Ambar Province and what it was was the
(17:13):
early stages of what became known as the Ambar Awakening,
where local Iraqi tribes realized that al Qaeda was the enemy.
And it was you know, toward the last third of
it that Megan got called into her commanding officer's office
and said, we'd actually like you to go to Ramadi
(17:36):
because you know, there's some really key leadership engagements happening
there to try to turn the tide overall in Ambar Province.
And even though Ramadi actually had become more violent than
Felujah at that point, you know, Megan immediately jumped at
the opportunity and she joined the Ready first Combat Team
as a public affairs officer, and you know, Meagan really
(18:00):
got to get out there, even though it was incredibly
dangerous and tell those stories about, you know, all the
progress that was being made, you know, regardless of one's
viewpoint on the Iraq War and the ultimate outcome of
what happened there was clearly a transformation that took place
at that time. And then you know, combined with the
(18:23):
surge effort and General Petraeus's strategy, that really did turn
the tide of the Iraq War at the time, and
Megan played a key role in that.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And you're listening to author Tom Cilio tell the story
of Meghan McClung, and my goodness, this is a woman
who wanted to be where the action was. At the time,
women were borrowed from combat, So whatever could get her
closest to combat, that's where she wanted to be. How
fast can you get me to the Middle East? She
would hector whoever she could. And in two thousand and six,
(18:57):
after going through a couple of contractors, he finds herself in,
of all places, well, the most violent place on Earth
at the time, Anbar Province, in the battles of Fallujah
and ultimately the Ramadi because it turns out there was
an awakening occurring in Anbar. The locals had discovered that
al Qaeda was their real enemy. When we come back
(19:20):
more of this remarkable story, the story of Megan McClung.
Here on our American stories, and we continue with our
American Stories and Meghan McClung's story as told by author
(19:44):
Tom cilio Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Obviously, technology was more limited in two thousand and six,
and despite that, she was still taking online courses at
Boston University Metropolitan College, and eventually they earned her masters
in Criminal Justice, which, you know, to think that somebody
is in a place like Felujah or Ramadi and able
(20:09):
to earn a master's degree kind of speaks to, you know,
the kind of person Megan was in the drive that
she had and another big thing that Megan had taken
on after she was unable to continue competing in gymnastics
at the Naval Academy for both some injuries she suffered
(20:29):
and also the team being contracted, Megan got very interested
in running marathons and then eventually triathlons and the Ironman triathlon,
and she competed all over the country in the world
in those events and one of the things that she
wanted to do in Iraq. After running the Marine Corps
(20:50):
Marathon in Washington, d C. Megan said, well, hey, why
can't we do it over here? So what if we're
in a war zone, we can still run and she
wound up being instrumental in organizing the first ever Marine
Corps Marathon Forward, which was held I believe in November
of two thousand and six near Fallujah. She actually had
(21:12):
to fly back there to you know, work on the
race and officiate it. And she worked so hard on that,
in addition to her studies at Boston University to make
the race happen. And it was a huge success, and
it continues to this day in the Middle East and
around the world. And they even hand out an award
(21:32):
at the Marine Corps Marathon in DC for Megan. It's
called the Penguin Award and it's given to the last
place finisher because Megan would never quit no matter what. So,
you know, the race had occurred. Megan went back to
Ramadi on December sixth, two thousand and six, you know,
late in the evening back in the United States, her
(21:53):
dad tried to reach her over Google Chat and Megan said,
you know, Dad, sorry, I'm just so busy. Right now.
We have a newsweek team coming in along with Fox
News War Stories with Oliver North, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant
Colonel Oliver North, and you know, I have a huge
(22:13):
day tomorrow and I want to make sure I'm prepared.
Her dad said, I love you, and that was the
end of the conversation. Well, that day December sixth, two
thousand and six, and Ramadi wound up being, you know,
a day that nobody who knew Megan would ever forget
started with her being incredibly enthusiastic to take Oliver North's
(22:37):
Fox News crew out into Ramadi and show them the
progress that was being made. You know, when they dropped
off Colonel North and his crew at another base, he
patted her on the shoulder and told her she was
a great marine. And you know, one of the really
special things about the way this book came together is
that Oliver North is one of the co founders of
(23:00):
Idell's Publishing, so he actually got to meet Megan and
then wound up publishing a book about her all these
years later. And thank you, Colonel North for believing in
this project and wanting to help tell Megan's story. So
after the Fox News and bed, she escorted a team
of Newsweek journalists. So was their second trip of the day,
(23:23):
and just to really think about what it meant at
the time to get in a military vehicle and ride
through a place like Ramadi, just by getting in to
the truck and driving around, you were risking your life
because there were not only snipers in the buildings and
on top of the buildings, but there were improvised explosive
(23:44):
devices known as IEDs buried all over the place that
would killing name American troops, Iraqi troops and civilians innocent
civilians alike. So you know, when I say getting the
truck and drive around, you know there's real risk involved.
And Megan was willing to do that not once, but
twice in one day because she wanted that Newsweek team
(24:08):
to get the real story about what was going on
in Ramadi. So she was riding in a humvy with
Captain Patrican and a specialist Vincent Palmonte, as well as
their driver, and they were going through Ramadi, not in
the same vehicle as the Newsweek team, and their vehicle
(24:28):
wound up hitting an IED. It blew up right under Megan,
killed her instantly. Captain Patrican and Specialist Pamonte were also killed.
The driver survived and was very heroic in trying to
save the lives of others, as were the Newsweek team.
The Newsweek reporter helped throw water on the driver who
(24:52):
had suffered burns. And it was a terrible moment that
nobody who knew Megan would ever forget. But it was
also a historic moment because afterwards it became clear that
not only was Megan the highest ranking female Marine officer
to make the ultimate sacrifice during the Iraq War, but
(25:13):
she was also the first female Naval Academy graduate in
the history of the institution, dating back to the eighteen
hundreds to be killed in action. And another thing that
you know, started to spread like wildfire after Megan was
killed was the words that wound up being on her
headstone at Arlington, those six words that I saw while
(25:35):
I was walking through be bald, be brief, begone. You know.
It was some of the officers, the fellow public affairs
officers that began to share that with her family and
with other reporters, and they said, well, that was actually
be bold, be brief, begone. Were the instructions Megan would
give us when dealing with the media, you know, get
(25:56):
your point across, don't take too long, and get out there,
whether it was the media or briefing senior military officers.
But as Megan made the ultimate sacrifice, and through all
the tears that were shed that followed, they realized that
it perfectly summarized how Megan lived her thirty four years.
(26:17):
Be bold, be brief, be gone, and her legacy has
only grown from a state of the arts studio that
was built in Baghdad for public affairs officers and was
named after her, to a building at the Defense Information School,
which Megan attended at Fort Meade, to her bronze Star.
(26:39):
And then you know another thing that really struck me
as well, as she once wrote in her yearbook, actually
at Admiral Farragut Academy, as the first woman to ever attend,
she said, I'm more scared of being nothing than I
am of being hurt. Megan's parents also politely pushed back
whenever journalists, including yours, truly referred to their daughter's death
(27:00):
as tragic. And when I said that to Ree, she
jumped right in. When I said, oh, I'm so sorry
about the tragic death of your daughter, she immediately said
that to me. She said, this is not a tragedy.
When someone gets to do what they've always wanted to
do and make the ultimate sacrifice while doing it, that's
(27:22):
not tragic. It's a heroic and beautiful thing I'm paraphrasing.
After Megan was killed, they had a memorial service for
her in the war zone in Ramadi, Iraq. This was
on December ninth, two thousand and six, so three days
after Megan was killed, and obviously a very emotional ceremony,
(27:43):
and one of the speakers was Marine Lieutenant Colonel John Church,
who Megan had served under many years earlier, and he
gave a very emotional speech about Megan. This is a
tough day, but perhaps the following words will allow us
some soft as we remember Major Meghan Malia Leilani McClung
(28:04):
and go forward as valiantly as she did and make
al Ambar Province a safer place. We can picture her
saying to us, do not stand at my grave and wheep.
I am not there. I do not sleep. I am
a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints
on the snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
(28:24):
I am the gentle autumn's rain when you awaken, the
morning's hush. I am the swift, uplifting rush of quiet
birds encircled flight. I am the soft star that shines
at night do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there. I did not die. What Lieutenant
(28:45):
Colonel Church couldn't have known while delivering his address in
Ramadi on December ninth, two thousand and six, was that
more than fourteen years earlier? Meghan copied that exact poem
down in her quote book. It was dated November fifteenth,
nineteen ninety two, which meant she almost certainly scribbled down
the unknown author's words as a young midshipman on a
(29:08):
chili fall night in Annapolis.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by her own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
Tom Cilio. His book Be Bold, How a Marine Corps
Hero Broke Barriers for Women at War, is available wherever
you buy your books. What a legacy Megan McClung left behind.
She was the highest ranking female Marine officer to be
(29:31):
killed in action, and she was the first female graduate
from Minnapolis to be killed in action. She was thirty four,
But her legacy has only grown in large measure thanks
to people like Tom and so many others in the
Marine Corps. I'm more scared of being nothing than being hurt,
(29:52):
she would say on December sixth, two thousand and six.
That happened. She was more than hurt, killed by an
ied In Ramadi, the most dang jerous work there could
be in the world at the time. The death was
not tragic, as the mother said. He died doing what
she wanted to do. The story of Megan McClung here
(30:12):
on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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