Megan Malia-Leilani McClung was born in Honolulu, grew up in Southern California, and lived life at 100 miles per hour.

She was an active-duty Marine until 2004, went to Baghdad to work for defense contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root, and then went back on active-duty with the Marines and back to Iraq.

"She loved being with the Marines," said Michael McClung, her father. "Didn't matter where the Marines were going."

The 34-year-old didn't like to own more than she could cram in her Audi TT. She was a people-person, not a possessions-person, her parents said.

The Naval Academy graduate had been a gymnast and a diver, did two Ironman competitions on the Big Island, and was a Marine major and public affairs officer in western Iraq.

Part of her job was working with reporters, and she was widely respected for her professionalism.

"She loved to get off base and go out with the journalists," said Michael McClung.

She also was the highest-ranking female service member to be killed in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded on Dec. 6 in Ramadi. She was escorting media on an assignment to see a sheik.

Her mother, Re McClung, and father are among the families of service members killed in action over the past year in Iraq and Afghanistan whose duty is being recognized today in the state's second Medal of Honor presentation.

For each is a similar story of life and love and supreme sacrifice. Sixty-seven service members with Hawai'i ties who were killed between March 1, 2006, and Feb. 28 of this year are eligible to receive the medal.

Forty-two families from Hawai'i and states as far away as Delaware and Florida will attend the 10 a.m. ceremony and joint legislative session in the Senate chamber at the state Capitol.

The first state Medal of Honor recognition covered 120 service members with Hawai'i ties killed between March 29, 2003, and Feb. 28, 2006.

"Hawai'i, from our perspective, is a very special state, and one in which we feel a sense of connectivity with the military, and military families and, in this particular case, service members who have given their lives," said state Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Newtown, Waiau, Pearl City), the coordinator of the Medal of Honor program.

Takai said the medal "is a small way of telling those families that we feel for them because we also have lost a member of our 'ohana."

The Legislature said last year's Medal of Honor presentation was the first of its kind in the nation. The McClungs, who came in from Whidbey Island, Wash., said they appreciate the recognition effort.

"I think our nation needs heroes, we desperately need heroes, and this is one way to acknowledge people who are certainly heroes for our country," said Re McClung.

Megan McClung was born at Tripler Army Medical Center in 1972 when her father, then a Marine captain, worked at Camp Smith. Because she loved the Islands and plumeria, Re McClung gave her daughter a flower-inspired Hawaiian middle name. This past Saturday would have been her 35th birthday.

Their daughter's death "stays raw for us. It seems like yesterday," said Re McClung, who became emotional at seeing the koa-cased state Medal of Honor.

Re McClung said it's important to honor those who serve the country. It doesn't matter "who was for the war and who was against the war."

"It's not an issue of politics, but when our politicians stand up and say, 'If we don't win this war in Iraq they will have died in vain,' that statement really makes me angry," she said, "because they didn't die in vain. They died in service to their country."

"She was where she wanted to be," said Michael McClung.

On her gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery is her public affairs training motto: "Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Gone."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.