SSgt. Donald C. May, U.S.M.C (KIA)

2 Va. Marines confirmed dead BY MEREDITH FISCHER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

2 Va. Marines confirmed dead

Brenda May knew in her heart that her 31-year-old son had died serving his country.

The 12:30 a.m. knock on the door from military officials just confirmed it.

Donald C. May Jr., a Marine staff sergeant, was gone. His body had been found inside his tank, flipped upside-down underwater in the Euphrates River in Iraq.

"They came to the house and told me," she said, crying.

Her son, a graduate of Meadowbrook High School in Chesterfield County, was assigned to the 1st Marine Division's 1st Tank Battalion. He is believed to be the first Virginian to die in the war.

A second Virginia casualty was announced yesterday by the Department of Defense - Marine Sgt. Michael V. Lalush, 23, of Troutville in Botetourt County near Roanoke. Lalush was killed Sunday in a UH-1N Huey helicopter crash in southern Iraq, the department said. The crash occurred during takeoff, a Ma- rine Corps spokesman said.

Brenda May said military officials told her Friday night that her son had disappeared during a sandstorm that swept over Iraq as U.S. forces advanced toward Baghdad.

"He did not have to wear a uniform to be a hero," his mother said yesterday. "He was always a hero."

"I knew it then," she said. "I had that feeling."