Marine Cpl. Dale A. Burger Jr., 21, of Port Deposit, Md.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed Nov. 14 by enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.
HE WAS EAGER TO JOIN THE MARINES
Burger was the only boy in a family of eight and, as a child who looked up to his father, wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a Marine, said sister Lynn Frost of Florida.
The family was proud of its military ties and flew the Marine Corps flag outside its home. As a teenager, Burger was so eager to join the Marines that he left Bel Air High School early and got a General Educational Development diploma.
When asked "Did Dale like sports?" his mother, Martina Burger replied, "He loved baseball. He dreamed of being Cal Ripken. He always played shortstop, from T-ball on. But my husband was disabled in 1993; he had a coma and suffered brain damage, and Dale Jr. lost his dad. His dad could not do dad things, could not play with him like he used to, and that turned Dale off from baseball."
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