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February 9, 2006
The Associated Press
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — One year after his death in Iraq, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Allan Klein soon could be buried, now that his parents tentatively have ended a long dispute over the location.
The 34-year-old resident of Macomb County's Clinton Township died Jan. 26, 2005, along with 29 other Marine infantrymen and a medic, in a helicopter crash near the Jordanian border. His remains are being temporarily kept at the Roseville crypt while the legal dispute is pending.
Mother Rae Oldaugh of Roseville wanted him buried in the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, while father Manfred Klein of Monroe County said he should be buried near a family farm in Croswell, north of Port Huron.
The parents tentatively agreed to bury the Marine on "a mutually agreed-upon plot of land which is a place that both parties know Allan loved," according to a joint statement reported by The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.
The statement did not reveal the plot's location.
"At this point, I won't say anything beyond the press release," said the father's lawyer, Derek Wilczynski.
A Defense Department rule gives the older of two parents of an unmarried service member the power to choose the burial site. But Allan Klein had designated Oldaugh, the younger of his parents, as next of kin. She filed suit in Macomb County Circuit Court, saying she had the right to select the burial site.
"The object has always been to do what Allan would have wanted," Oldaugh said Wednesday. "This does seem to be something that he might agree to or might really want, or at least wouldn't object to."
Earlier, Oldaugh's lawyer and brother, Dan Shemke, had proposed that the Marine be cremated and have his ashes spread at the Klein family farm, about 4 miles from the Croswell cemetery. Then, Oldaugh could have arranged for a memorial stone at the national cemetery.
Manfred Klein said last year that his son never specifically talked about what should happen if he died but did tell friends that he wanted to settle in the Croswell area.
"He loved that area. His grandmother had a farm there and he spent a lot of time up there," the father said.
Judge Diane Druzinski retains jurisdiction over the case, which had been scheduled for action next Tuesday. If the deal breaks down, a trial could start April 4.
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