GROSSE POINTE PARK, MI, USA U.S. Marines LTCOL, H&S CO, 2D BN, 3D MAR, (RCT-7, I MEF FWD), 3D MAR DIV, KANEOHE BAY, HI HADITHAH DAM, IRAQ 12/04/2006
While excelling as a military officer, Joseph T. McCloud found time to make a difference for schoolteachers across the nation who teach in low-income neighborhoods. He played a key role in a loan forgiveness program for such educators.
I know I am talking like a father, but I never saw a more talented person in my life, said his father, Ron. He could do anything, he could restore cars, he could do crown molding, he was good at everything.
McCloud, 39, known as Trane, of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., was killed Dec. 3 when his helicopter crashed in a reservoir at Haditha. He was assigned to Kaneohe Bay.
He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1989, worked at the Pentagon, did a fellowship on Capitol Hill _ where he worked on the forgiveness bill _ and served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School.
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, McCloud served on the USS Missouri, part of the final group of Marines to work aboard the ship before its decommissioning. He was recalled as a good-natured man with a dry humor who cherished his family _ and his two-tone 1959 Ford Fairlane.
He is survived by his wife, Maggie, and their children, Hayden, 7, Grace, 5, and Meghan, 2.