Maryland's Thirty-Sixth Hero

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Army Sgt. Michael J. McMullen, 25, of Salisbury, Md.; assigned to the 243rd Engineer Company, Maryland Army National Guard, Baltimore; died Jan. 10 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., of injuries sustained Dec. 24 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position in Ramadi, Iraq.

HE TOUCHED SO MANY PEOPLE

Several hundred mourners, including a soldier who Sgt. Michael J. McMullen helped rescue in Iraq, paid their respects Thursday to the soldier and firefighter who died of wounds suffered in combat.

McMullen, 25, who worked as a paramedic in Salisbury for the fire department, was wounded Christmas Eve while caring for Sgt. Randal Divel, who had been injured in an earlier attack. McMullen died Jan. 10 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington from injuries suffered near Ramadi when a homemade explosive device went off near his unit, the Baltimore-based 243rd Engineering Company.

James Gladwell, captain at the Salisbury Fire Department and McMullen’s friend, said his loss leaves a void.

“He touched so many people in such a short time. He may have been struck down, but he was doing what he did best,” Gladwell said. “The world was a better place with him in it.”