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foxnews.com
A Young Man Who 'Would Make Any Parent Proud'
AP
Capt. Dan McCollum
Thursday, January 10, 2002
IRMO, S.C. — Friends of Capt. Dan McCollum said he was smart and handsome and had a bright future with a new wife and a baby on the way.
They also say he ended his life Wednesday doing what he loved -- flying. McCollum was one of seven Marines killed when their cargo plane crashed in Pakistan.
McCollum graduated in 1992 from Irmo High School, where he was a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, said JROTC coordinator Col. Pete Sercer. McCollum joined the Marines in 1993.
Sercer remembered him from when he was an JROTC member his freshman, sophomore and junior years. McCollum was on the wrestling team and was voted best looking in his senior class.
"He sort of brightened up the room every time he came in. He was a superb athlete and handsome but never a braggart," Sercer said.
Family friend Louise Burkholder said McCollum's mother, Betty Lorick, was proud of both her sons; McCollum's brother Matt serves in the U.S. Army.
Burkholder said Lorick knew Daniel McCollum had been called to serve in the war on terrorism but she thought he was safe because he was flying a cargo plane.
"Her boys were just wonderful boys -- loving, very responsible. They loved their country and wanted to serve. All Dan ever wanted to do was fly," Burkholder said.
The American flag at Irmo High School flew at half-staff Thursday, and the principal asked for a moment of silence. Gov. Jim Hodges also ordered flags on state buildings be lowered to half-staff until Friday.
Burkholder said McCollum's mother and stepfather left South Carolina early Thursday for San Diego.
A large American flag hung on the front porch of the brown, one-story Lorick home Thursday. Two women answered the door, saying they were family friends taking messages for the Loricks.
Across the street, Jean Eng was devastated by the news of McCollum's death.
"We knew Dan. He was a wonderful young man -- the kind of young man any parent would be proud to have," she said.
McCollum's stepfather, Charles Lorick, broke the news to Eng late Wednesday, she said. Eng said McCollum mowed her lawn when he was younger.
Andy Cabe was McCollum's best friend for 15 years. The two roomed together at Clemson University, where McCollum graduated in 1996 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
McCollum also was a member of the Dixie Skydivers parachute club at the university and participated in the Officer Candidate School program, according to Clemson spokesman Chris Land.
Cabe described McCollum as personable, outgoing and dedicated to his family and friends.
"He was one of the kindest souls you'll ever meet," Cabe said.
During high school and college, McCollum dated Allison Hammond, according to her father, Crockett Hammond.
"He was extraordinary in everything he did," Hammond said. "It really just hurts so bad to know he's gone."
Hammond said his daughter and McCollum ended their relationship during their senior year of college. Allison "was just afraid of the whole flight-pilot thing," Crockett Hammond said.
McCollum and the six other crash victims were based at the Marine Corps Station in Miramar, Calif., near San Diego.
McCollum was married May 26 to southeast Missouri native Jennifer Harkey. The couple was expecting their first child July 4, said Peter Kinder, a friend of the Harkeys and president pro tem of the Missouri Senate.
A somber Kinder read an e-mail from Bill Harkey, McCollum's father-in-law, to other senators Thursday, then made a personal tribute.
"I was shocked," Kinder said. "When it's a young Marine captain married to a Missouri girl about to give birth to a baby who will never know her father, that brings it all home." |
