thedrifter
05-24-03, 09:51 AM
Article ran : 05/24/2003
Comrades remember Marine's sacrifice
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Lance Cpl. Donald J. "John" Cline Jr. was born on All Saints Day, a fact that will never go unnoticed by those who served with the Marine killed in Iraq.
Before he died, he is said to have saved 18 comrades, one of them Cpl. Mike Mead.
"He was keeping my spirits up and even making jokes while we were being shot at," Mead recalled of a battle at An Nasiriyah that took the lives of Cline and nine other Marines.
Cline's friends and family honored the leatherneck at a remembrance Friday at the Holiday City home of one of his friends.
Mead was there to tell the story of the last time he saw Cline.
Unlike the common image of a Marine infantryman as a mighty hulking person capable of squashing any resistance with his bare hands, the feisty, humorous Cline was 5 foot, 5 inches tall and weighed just 130 pounds.
He was part of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, which was assigned to cross two bridges and set up a position in An Nasiriyah on March 23.
But many of the Marines never made it through this stretch of territory they called "Ambush Alley."
"We crossed the first bridge and were taking fire that whole morning," said Mead, also an infantryman with Charlie Company.
The leathernecks were riding in an amphibious assault vehicle in a convoy and trying to return fire to the Iraqis.
"We had one of the two hatches open and John was all the way on top," Mead said. "John was calm, but still excitable."
The group was three quarters of the way through An Nasiriyah when their vehicle was hit by an Iraqi rocket-propelled grenade that ignited one of their own anti-tank rockets.
"I was inside from my waist down and braced up against the wall when the explosion set off one of our AT-4s, which blew me out and on top of the vehicle," Mead said.
One of the greatest concerns of those in combat is losing a limb, so Cline ripped open Mead's smoldering right trouser leg to find burns on his calf and shrapnel in his thigh.
"He told me that my leg was still there, I'd be OK and rolled me back into the vehicle," Mead said.
Later, the fuel tanks caught fire, and more than 20 people had to scramble out of the vehicle and take refuge in a ditch dug by Iraqis as defenses against Americans.
Four men were wounded, and their platoon gathered around them and returned fire against the enemy in all directions. Finally, an AAV converted ambulance showed up to take them out of harm's way.
"We waited for a medevac track, and the last time I saw John he was running around outside of the vehicle trying to load Private Jason Keough inside," Mead said.
"I heard he was making trips back and forth under fire to bring back more casualties when he was hit."
Cline's wife, Tina, has heard the stories many times. When the combat veterans retell the tale, she said, their adrenaline starts pumping and they get excited again.
Tina said she has been told that John may have rescued as many as 18 people that day, working until the AAV in which he was riding was hit by the Iraqi rocket-propelled grenade.
On March 28, military officials came to her house to tell her Cline was missing.
"Originally, they thought that they lost him in a dust storm, but on April 11 the Marines came again to tell me that they found parts of him."
About 25 friends were at the barbecue dinner Friday afternoon, and more were arriving at 6 p.m.
Their memories of Cline were no surprise to Tina.
"He was an amazing man with a Marine attitude, but we were his number one priority," she said of the Cline family, which includes 3-year old Dakota and 4-month old Dylan.
"When he had time off, he was with his family."
"He had a great smile, a wonderful laugh and found humor in the ordinary," she said in her distinct Midwestern North Dakota accent.
"He always has been my hero."
Tina wanted to have the dinner for friends who could not attend Cline's funeral in Reno, Nev., where a reserve reconnaissance unit supplied six Marines clad in dress blues to carry the coffin draped with an American flag as a local policeman played bagpipes.
"His whole unit was back in Iraq," Tina said.
She brought photos of the funeral to the dinner and a video of that day.
"The slide show goes from the day he was born up to a recent photo of him throwing rocks in the ocean at sunset," Tina said. "It has songs that are meaningful to both of us."
Tina described the pain of emptying out two storage units that the couple rented before Cline left for Iraq. One was filled with all their older things and made her remember their past.
The other was filled with new furniture they bought together for the future.
"I'm still going to receive his sea bag, and there's a letter to me inside his Bible that was 'just in case I don't make it back'," she said.
The Bible is on its way back with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade due here in June
Meanwhile, Tina must deal with memories that can be triggered by a smell or a place where the couple spent time together.
Other times, more specific things like welcome home banners along N.C. 24 cut deep and bring forth a flood of tears.
She recalled one banner that said, "Rest In Peace John Cline."
"I have two missions in life," Tina said. "To raise my sons the best I can alone and to keep my husband's memory alive."
Sempers,
Roger
Rest in peace
Comrades remember Marine's sacrifice
By ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Lance Cpl. Donald J. "John" Cline Jr. was born on All Saints Day, a fact that will never go unnoticed by those who served with the Marine killed in Iraq.
Before he died, he is said to have saved 18 comrades, one of them Cpl. Mike Mead.
"He was keeping my spirits up and even making jokes while we were being shot at," Mead recalled of a battle at An Nasiriyah that took the lives of Cline and nine other Marines.
Cline's friends and family honored the leatherneck at a remembrance Friday at the Holiday City home of one of his friends.
Mead was there to tell the story of the last time he saw Cline.
Unlike the common image of a Marine infantryman as a mighty hulking person capable of squashing any resistance with his bare hands, the feisty, humorous Cline was 5 foot, 5 inches tall and weighed just 130 pounds.
He was part of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, which was assigned to cross two bridges and set up a position in An Nasiriyah on March 23.
But many of the Marines never made it through this stretch of territory they called "Ambush Alley."
"We crossed the first bridge and were taking fire that whole morning," said Mead, also an infantryman with Charlie Company.
The leathernecks were riding in an amphibious assault vehicle in a convoy and trying to return fire to the Iraqis.
"We had one of the two hatches open and John was all the way on top," Mead said. "John was calm, but still excitable."
The group was three quarters of the way through An Nasiriyah when their vehicle was hit by an Iraqi rocket-propelled grenade that ignited one of their own anti-tank rockets.
"I was inside from my waist down and braced up against the wall when the explosion set off one of our AT-4s, which blew me out and on top of the vehicle," Mead said.
One of the greatest concerns of those in combat is losing a limb, so Cline ripped open Mead's smoldering right trouser leg to find burns on his calf and shrapnel in his thigh.
"He told me that my leg was still there, I'd be OK and rolled me back into the vehicle," Mead said.
Later, the fuel tanks caught fire, and more than 20 people had to scramble out of the vehicle and take refuge in a ditch dug by Iraqis as defenses against Americans.
Four men were wounded, and their platoon gathered around them and returned fire against the enemy in all directions. Finally, an AAV converted ambulance showed up to take them out of harm's way.
"We waited for a medevac track, and the last time I saw John he was running around outside of the vehicle trying to load Private Jason Keough inside," Mead said.
"I heard he was making trips back and forth under fire to bring back more casualties when he was hit."
Cline's wife, Tina, has heard the stories many times. When the combat veterans retell the tale, she said, their adrenaline starts pumping and they get excited again.
Tina said she has been told that John may have rescued as many as 18 people that day, working until the AAV in which he was riding was hit by the Iraqi rocket-propelled grenade.
On March 28, military officials came to her house to tell her Cline was missing.
"Originally, they thought that they lost him in a dust storm, but on April 11 the Marines came again to tell me that they found parts of him."
About 25 friends were at the barbecue dinner Friday afternoon, and more were arriving at 6 p.m.
Their memories of Cline were no surprise to Tina.
"He was an amazing man with a Marine attitude, but we were his number one priority," she said of the Cline family, which includes 3-year old Dakota and 4-month old Dylan.
"When he had time off, he was with his family."
"He had a great smile, a wonderful laugh and found humor in the ordinary," she said in her distinct Midwestern North Dakota accent.
"He always has been my hero."
Tina wanted to have the dinner for friends who could not attend Cline's funeral in Reno, Nev., where a reserve reconnaissance unit supplied six Marines clad in dress blues to carry the coffin draped with an American flag as a local policeman played bagpipes.
"His whole unit was back in Iraq," Tina said.
She brought photos of the funeral to the dinner and a video of that day.
"The slide show goes from the day he was born up to a recent photo of him throwing rocks in the ocean at sunset," Tina said. "It has songs that are meaningful to both of us."
Tina described the pain of emptying out two storage units that the couple rented before Cline left for Iraq. One was filled with all their older things and made her remember their past.
The other was filled with new furniture they bought together for the future.
"I'm still going to receive his sea bag, and there's a letter to me inside his Bible that was 'just in case I don't make it back'," she said.
The Bible is on its way back with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade due here in June
Meanwhile, Tina must deal with memories that can be triggered by a smell or a place where the couple spent time together.
Other times, more specific things like welcome home banners along N.C. 24 cut deep and bring forth a flood of tears.
She recalled one banner that said, "Rest In Peace John Cline."
"I have two missions in life," Tina said. "To raise my sons the best I can alone and to keep my husband's memory alive."
Sempers,
Roger
Rest in peace