SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Marine Maj. Megan M. McClung, of Coupeville, Wash., has died in Iraq, becoming the first female Marine officer to be killed in the conflict.

McClung, 34, was a public affairs officer assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters at Camp Pendleton. She joined the Marine Corps in May 1995.

She died Dec. 6 in Al Anbar province, the Department of Defense said in a news release.

She is said to be the highest-ranking female service member to die in Iraq.

DOD photo

Then-Captain Megan McClung in November of 2005 prior to deployment

The exact circumstances surrounding McClung's death were not immediately released, but Camp Pendleton spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cliff Carnes said she was escorting media when she was killed. The journalists she was with were not seriously injured, he said.

"She was a Marine's Marine," Carnes said. "She exemplified everything that it was to be a warrior, she was a great personality and a great friend."

Her boss in Iraq, Lt. Col. Bryan Salas, said McClung was an advocate of media coverage of military operations, and while in Iraq she managed the Marine media embed program.

Carnes said McClung, who was unmarried, was in the final month of a yearlong deployment to Iraq.

McClung joined the Marine Corps in May 1995 after graduating from the Naval Academy.

Her family in Coupeville was not available for comment.

An avid runner, McClung organized the first-ever satellite running of the Marine Corps Marathon in the desert of Iraq.

More than 200 service members from all branches of the Armed Services registered to run the 26.2-mile race called Marine Corps Marathon Forward in October. The race took place the same day of the original Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, VA.

Beth Cline, Public Relations Coordinator for the Marine Corps Marathon, praised McClung as a "great woman and a great Marine."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with her family," she said. "(She) will be very sincerely missed."

Three other female Marines have been killed in Iraq, according to the Defense Department's most recent numbers.

Lance Cpl. Juana Navarro Arellano died in April after being shot in Anbar province. Lance Cpl. Holly A. Charette and Cpl. Ramona Valdez died in June last year when a suicide bomber attacked their convoy.

In all U.S. military branches, 60 women have been killed in Iraq. Fifty-two of these women were in the Army.

Details of McClung's burial at Arlington National Cemetery were being finalized.