Allan Klein
Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps
September 16, 1970 – January 26, 2005
Age – 34
Clinton Township, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base, HI
Killed when the CH-53E helicopter he was riding in crashed near Rutbah, Iraq
LCPL Klein joined the U.S. Marine Corps in October of 2001, after the September 11 terror attacks, attaining the rank of Lance Cpl. He was killed in western Iraq along with 30 other Marines, and a Navy corpsman, when the helicopter they were in crashed during a sandstorm. It was his last mission before ending his tour of duty there on February 7. The crash was the single deadliest event for the American military in Iraq since the United States invaded that country in March 2003. It was also the largest number of Marines to die in a single event since the terrorist bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in October 1983.
They had been assigned to guard the Iraq-Jordan border to keep terrorists out of Iraq as part of a beefed-up security for Sunday’s elections. Until that last mission, his assignment had been searching for insurgents in Fallujah or guarding humanitarian aid stations that also would serve as polling sites.
The last e-mail his mother got from her son was from Fallujah, Iraq, and it had an ominous tone. He talked about sand and windstorms that had been kicking up, saying he had one last mission to go, and that he had reservations about it. He was an avid reader with an interest in WWII Naval history. He also loved the environment, loved animals, and loved the family farm.