Captain John J. McKenna IV, USMC (Reserves)

[Update: John's Family has indicated the following charities to honor John's life]:

New York State Trooper Foundation c/o John McKenna Scholarship fund 3 Airport Park Boulevard Latham, New York 12110-1441

Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund 825 College Blvd Suite 102 PMB 609 Oceanside, CA 92057

Last week, I lost a good friend to our war in Iraq. John and I met in high school and were good friends ever since. He wanted to be a Marine all his life. John was a great guy, Eagle Scout, always wanting to make people laugh, very interested in history and very proud to be a New Yorker.

All words fail me in describing what this loss means to his family, his friends and fellow Marines and state troopers. But one phrase that I like seeing in relation to his death has been "He made the ultimate sacrifice". He did. He put himself in harm's way for all of us, agreeing to fight wherever he was sent as honorably as possible, no matter what he personally thought of the war, the President or the myriad reasons for why we are there. He wanted to serve his country. He wanted to sacrifice for us.