Seattle Marine fatally wounded in Iraq

A 38-year-old Marine major from Seattle has died in Iraq from wounds suffered during combat, the Defense Department says.

Maj. William G. Hall died Sunday from wounds suffered during combat in Anbar province on Saturday, the military said Wednesday.

He was assigned to the 3rd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

A 1987 graduate of Seattle's Garfield High School, Hall earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Washington State University in 1992. While at WSU, he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps and later joined the Marines.

In Iraq, Hall's family said, he was training Iraqi troops to take over the duties of American soldiers. He didn't try to downplay the danger he faced, but he also spoke of good things that were happening.

"I know most of what you hear on the news about Iraq is not usually good news and that so many are dying over here," he wrote in a March 27 e-mail to his family, two days before he was wounded. "That is true to an extent but it does not paint the total picture and violence is not everywhere throughout the country."

He ended his e-mail with: "Love you and miss you. I'll write again soon."

Before his unit deployed to Iraq in mid-February, Hall was selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel, said Maj. Jason Johnston, who is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Calif. Though Hall's unit was based at Camp Pendleton, it was attached to the Miramar air station, Johnston said.