News National

U.S. Marine Killed in Combat

By John Burnett

Published March 21, 2003 at 12:00 AM EST

In the first U.S. combat death, a U.S. Marine is killed in southern Iraq. Earlier, four U.S. Marines and eight British soldiers are killed in the accidental crash of a U.S. helicopter near the Kuwait-Iraq border. Hear NPR's John Burnett.

National

John Burnett

John Burnett is a national correspondent based in Austin, Texas, who has been assigned a new beat for 2022—Polarized America—to explore all facets of our politically and culturally divided nation. Prior to this assignment, Burnett covered immigration, Southwest border affairs, Texas news and other national assignments. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, he won national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for continuing coverage of the immigration beat. In 2020, Burnett along with other NPR journalists, were finalists for a duPont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Trump Administration's Remain in Mexico program. In December 2018, Burnett was invited to participate in a workshop on Refugees, Immigration and Border Security in Western Europe, sponsored by the RIAS Berlin Commission.