Army Spc. William J. McClellan, 22, of New Castle, Ind. died Nov. 6 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. from wounds sustained in January of 2008 as a result of an IED. He was a member of Alpha Company, 502nd Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division based in Fort Campbell, Ky.
"Area Soldier Dies From Iraq Injuries"
Army Spc. William Justin McClellan was New Castle native
Heather McClellan thought her husband was recovering from the injuries he suffered in January when his truck hit a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Maybe, she thought, he'd even be home for Christmas.
But Army Spc. William Justin McClellan, 22, a New Castle native who grew up in Indianapolis, died Nov. 6 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
An Army spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his injuries had not been considered life-threatening and the cause of his death is under investigation.
"It's a shock to everybody," his wife said. "I talked to him on the 5th, and he was fine. He just had not been feeling well and had developed a few staph infections. But he was fine."
Their second wedding anniversary would have been Dec. 27.
McClellan is the 109th soldier with Indiana ties to be killed in the war in Iraq.
The infantryman, based in Fort Campbell, Ky., and a member of Alpha Company, 502nd Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, was critically injured in January in a roadside explosion.
Except for a brief trip for a family funeral, his wife said, he had not been out of the hospital.
The couple lived in Clarksville, Tenn., and he will be buried in Tennessee.
Recent news reports have indicated a high suicide rate among soldiers, but without being asked, Heather McClellan volunteered in a telephone interview that this was not the case with her husband.
"He wouldn't have done that. I know my husband," she said. "He was a fighter, and he would never have given up on anything."
The Army's system of long-term care for wounded soldiers has struggled to keep up with the surge of casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After a wounded Indiana sergeant's fatal prescription drug overdose at Fort Knox, Ky., in 2007, the Army found shortcomings in leadership there and a staff stretched too thin. Problems uncovered at Walter Reed in 2007 were so bad that the secretary of the Army resigned, but officials have taken steps since then to improve conditions.
Born in New Castle, McClellan attended Howe High School in Indianapolis before joining the military and passing his general educational development test.
His parents, Arthur and Lisa McClellan, live in Indianapolis, as do several other family members.
"He loved fishing, music. He loved the outdoors," Heather McClellan, an Illinois native, said about her husband. "He was an adrenaline junkie to the fullest. His family and friends will dearly miss him."
McClellan received a Purple Heart and a Combat Infantry Badge for his actions in Iraq.
His wife said he was driving in a convoy Jan. 10 when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb.
"There were several trucks that had passed over it, but it just so happened when his truck passed, it detonated," Heather McClellan said.
She said her husband steered the truck to safety, and no other soldiers suffered serious injuries.
"When they were taking care of him on the field, he had told his guys to hold his place because he'd be back in two weeks," she said. But his injuries, which she described as shrapnel damage to the head, hand and foot, were more serious than he realized.
McClellan was born Oct. 20, 1986. Besides his wife and parents, he is survived by brothers Arthur, Gregory and Trevor McClellan and Donald Schmitz and sister Tonya Schmitz, Indianapolis; maternal grandparents Charles Foster III and Vinda Foster, Indianapolis; and maternal great-grandparents Charles Foster II and Barbara Foster, Attica.
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