Shelby Township

Shelby resident, Rochester native killed in action in Afghanistan

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Staff Writer

The Department of Defense announced Aug. 2 that Spc. Kyle B. McClain, 25, was killed in action Aug. 1 in Salim Aka, Afghanistan.

McClain, a member of the U.S. Army National Guard and a Rochester Hills native, attended Rochester Community Schools before moving to Shelby Township.

“The Department of Defense announced (Aug. 2) the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom,” a release from the Department of Defense said.

McClain was killed after an improvised explosive device was detonated while he and his fellow soldiers from the 1433rd Engineer Company, 507th Engineer Battalion, 177th Military Police Brigade out of Kalamazoo swept for mines.

“When you have combat engineers sweeping the area, there is someone out there that set that device to kill soldiers,” Shelby Township Veterans Events Coordinator Phil Randazzo said of McClain’s duties, which were not dissimilar to those he performed as a U. S. Army scout in Vietnam.

Officials from the Michigan National Guard Public Affairs office confirmed that four other soldiers from Michigan were wounded in the attack.

“Michigan always produces an overabundance of military personnel,” Randazzo said. “Michigan just has a lot of regular, strong patriotic people.”

McClain is the fourth solider from Shelby Township to lose his life in the global war on terror following Mark Barbret, Tarryl Hill and Christopher Kube.

Randazzo said McClain’s sacrifice and service for his community and nation would be remembered on the Shelby Township Veterans Memorial at 52700 Van Dyke Ave. and the Heart of America war memorial outside the Macomb County Administration Building at 1 S. Main St. in Mount Clemens.

“He was a hero, and he lived in Shelby Township and Macomb County,” Randazzo said of his assurances McClain would be memorialized despite his relative short time spent living in Macomb County and Shelby Township.

“That’s why we have those memorials there, and that’s why I work doing the things I do. These guys and the sacrifices they make fighting for all of us need to be remembered. We will make sure the story of this hero gets told.”
 

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.