Marine Lance Cpl. Michael L. Starr Jr., 21, of Baltimore; assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii; killed Jan. 26 when the CH-53E helicopter in which he was riding crashed near Rutbah, Iraq. Twenty-nine Marines and one sailor also were killed.
HE LOVED WHAT HE WAS DOING
“He loved what he was doing, making a difference,” Starr’s father, Michael Starr Sr., told The (Baltimore) Sun.
Starr joined the Marine Corps in May 2001, shortly after graduating from Perry Hall High School. He attended infantry school in September of that year, training to become a rifleman, officials said.
“He had a lot of friends, a lot of friends, and he recruited a lot of friends into the Marines,” his mother, Robin Starr, told WBAL-TV.
“The Marines were so important to him, really motivated him, and he was an honor student in his senior year because he was so pumped up about being a Marine,” his mother told The Sun.
In an e-mail to his mother, Starr wrote about being hit by some metal in the chin and lip, about a friend who was killed and about another who lost an arm and a leg in battle: “I remain focus(ed) knowing where I still am. I love you and want you to know I am fine and content knowing I fought house to house like the Marines in Hue City in Vietnam. ... And I’m a huge part of American history now.”
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