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thedrifter
04-15-07, 09:27 AM
Slain Natchitoches Marine to be honored
April 14, 2007

By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com

A Natchitoches Marine who gave up a medical career to serve his nation and fell in combat in Iraq will be honored with a posthumous medal today.

The family of Lance Cpl. Donny Champlin, who was mortally wounded by a bomb Aug. 27 while on patrol in Iraq's Anbar Province, will accept the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal from leadership of Bossier City-based Bravo Co., 1/23rd Marines.

The presentation will be at noon at the Warrior Center training area on the east side of Barksdale Air Force Base, unit 1st Sgt. Thomas Stone said.

Among those accepting the medal and its accompanying citation will be the slain Marine's father, Natchitoches Parish educator and one-time Marine Danny Champlin.

Donny Champlin was with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Last month, the local Marines rendered the same honors to another of their fallen comrades, Lance Cpl. Jon Eric Bowman of Claiborne Parish. His family accepted the medal at the unit's headquarters at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Swan Lake Road in Bossier City.

Bowman, 21, was with the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.

In December, Champlin's family was at the Marine Reserve unit's Swan Lake Road headquarters to accept $20,000 in U.S. Treasury bonds on behalf of the Marine's young son, 3-year-old Mekhiah Champlin. The youngster is being reared by his grandfather and his grandmother, Joann Champlin. Donny Champlin also is survived by a sister who lives in Shreveport, Brooke Wall.

Donny Champlin joined the Marines in 2005, after he earned a medical technology degree from LSU Health Sciences Center's School of Allied Health Professions.

Previous ceremonies have been held at the Swan Lake Road facility. But this month the Marines are training on the Barksdale East Reservation as part of their weekend drill, while family members of Marines who have never deployed are off base getting briefings on what do if their loved ones deploy.

For many members of Bravo Company, that will be "when" rather than "if." The unit already has learned it will have to send some of its personnel to augment a New Orleans-based battalion, the 3/23rd Marines, that will deploy some time in coming months. So far, at least 16 Marines have volunteered to go, and eventually as many as 50 or more may be tapped, local unit leaders say.

Ellie