Corporal Michelle R. Ring was born July 2nd, 1981, in Oregon, but always considered Alaska to be home.
The youngest of three sisters, Ring was a self-proclaimed tomboy and attended Chugiak High School but dropped out before completing her courses. Shortly after, she met her first love, a soldier at Fort Richardson in Alaska.
Tragically, her boyfriend was killed in a fight while she was pregnant with their son. After her baby boy was born, Ring completed her GED and moved to Tennessee. There she married again, had her second son, and worked two factory jobs to provide for her family. On a lunch break she recalled looking up to see a recruiting poster and decided right there she was going to enlist.
Ring joined the Army in August 2005, looking for a path to a better life for her and her sons. Her mother recalled that she loved boot camp; the tanks, guns, exercise and all the people. It gave her purpose and direction, and she looked forward to training to become a military police officer.
On July 5th, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq, some of Ring’s friends had brought her dinner while she was on a patrol when suddenly the base found itself under attack. Rockets struck her compound. Corporal Ring died from wounds sustained during the attack. She had just celebrated her 26th birthday, only two days prior.
Corporal Ring is remembered as someone who would do anything for her family: “She hid a lot of her hurt feelings, because she wanted everyone around her to be happy… She was always the one to be cheering you up.” Corporal Ring had never been a stranger to hardship. After tragedy, financial burden, and through raising her two boys as a single mother, she had picked herself up time and time again by her bootstraps and sacrificed herself to place those she loved on more solid ground. Her service as a United States Army soldier was no different, though in Iraq, the freedom her sacrifice paid for stretched beyond her family.
Corporal Michelle R. Ring is buried at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Oregon.
Sources:
https://legacy.suntimes.com/us/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/name/michelle-r-ring-obituary?pid=90309832
https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/army-cpl-michelle-r-ring/2888533
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