Tulsa World: Missing BA Marine dead, father confirms

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Missing BA Marine dead, father confirms

By MATT ELLIOTT World Staff Writer
Published: 3/31/2003
Last Modified: 1/4/2009 2:39 AM

Lance Cpl. Thomas Alan Blair is the state's first known casualty in the war.

BROKEN ARROW -- The father of a Broken Arrow Marine confirmed Sunday that his son was killed in Iraq.

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Thomas "Tommy" Alan Blair was listed as missing in action last week. His father, Al Blair of Gravette, Ark., confirmed Sunday that the Marines informed him Saturday his son was killed in action.

Al Blair declined further comment, saying his eldest son, 29-year-old U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Alfred Blair III, will be in Tulsa on Monday to issue statements to the media.

Blair, 24, was assigned to the 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Marine Air Control Group 28, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in Cherry Point, N.C. He was among eight Marines who disappeared during fighting March 23 on the outskirts of An Nasiriyah, Iraq.

Blair was a 1997 graduate of Broken Arrow High School. He joined the Marine Corps shortly afterward.

Officials ranging from the Governor's Office to Broken Arrow city government had expressed hope last week that Blair would turn up alive.

His family described Blair as a confident young man who loved Oklahoma and was well-suited for life in the Marines.

Blair's mother, Nancy Blair, lives in Broken Arrow. A red, white and blue wreath with Thomas Blair's name on it hung on the gate to her property Sunday.

Blair is Oklahoma's first known

casualty in the war, The Associated Press reported.

Darrin Davis, Broken Arrow's North Intermediate High School band director, described Blair last week as a born leader and an enthusiastic student who wanted to be the best drummer possible.

"He was quite good," Davis said last week. "He'd be in the band room before and after school partly to socialize but mostly to practice."

Blair had just returned to the United States in October after a two-year deployment in Okinawa, Japan, before he was sent to Iraq on Jan. 10.

Matt Elliott, World staff writer, can be reached at 581-8366 or via e-mail at matt.elliott@tulsaworld.com.

By MATT ELLIOTT World Staff Writer

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EQUIRACER, (5/24/2009 10:16:53 PM)

God Bless you Mrs. Blair on this Memorial day weekend, and my heart is filled with graditude and sadness for your son, a s fallen hero.God doesn`t take junk, he wants the best, and as hard as as that sounds, your precious son fit that bill. Please keep the faith, you will be with him again Signed another mother with a son currenty over there proudly serving, May God`s hand guide you always.

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