Donald J. Cline Jr.

{Cline}
Rank/Branch: Lance Cpl./Marines
Unit: 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune
Age: 21
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Sparks, Nev.
Date of Loss: 23 March 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates: Combat near An Nasiriyah
Status: MIA/Iraq __ Declared dead_DOD report April 13, 2003
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground:
Personnel in Incident: Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair, Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon, Sgt. Brendon C. Reiss, Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams

Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated: April 13, 2003


REMARKS: Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline, Jr. was reported missing after fighting March 23 on the outskirts of An Nasiriyah, Iraq. His wife, Tina Cline, said three Marines and a chaplain told her March 26 he was missing.
"He is not missing in action, just missing. They lost communication with him," Mrs. Cline said the pentagon officials told her.
She said she was encouraged by the fact they told her they had found three of his squadron members alive.
The officials said the missing Marines were part of a group that was told to secure a bridge near Nasiriyah, and that they encountered what appeared to be Iraqi civilians seeking to surrender but were surprised when the men opened fire.
"They had uniforms underneath their clothes," Pentagon officials said "Eleven soldiers were killed. Eight soldiers ran to a more secure area. No one has seen them since."
"I never prayed so hard that my muscles turned purple,"she told KTVN-TV in Reno. Mrs. Cline said she and her two sons, Dakota, 2, and Dylan, 7 months, are living with her mother in Sparks, Nev.
"Everytime I look at my oldest son, I feel it in my heart _ I feel it so deeply that he is OK,"she said.


U.S. Veteran Dispatch
www.usvetdsp.com/main.shtml

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