Lance Corporal Maung Phyo Thu Htaik (Sam)

Lance Cpl. Maung P. “Samuel” Htaik, 20, of Hagerstown, MD died on Saturday January 1, 2011 in Helmand province, Afghanistan while conducting combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Born on July 12, 1990 in Yangon, Myanmar, he was the son of Hla and Flory Myint Shwe.

He was a 2008 graduate of Smithsburg High School and was a member of Gateway Ministries Church of God in Williamsport.

Remembering Sam

Samuel Htaik, also known as Maung Phyo Thu Htaik, was born on July 12, 1990. He was the younger son of U Hla Shwe and Daw San San Myint, and brother of Dan Yar.

Sam’s independence and maturity was evident even before he was in the first grade; he had a personality of someone much older than his age. He lived in Myanmar only until the second grade. Sam reunited with his father who was working abroad after eight years of separation, when he and the rest of his family moved to Singapore, in 1998..

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