Corporal McRae was assigned to 3rd Maintenance Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 35, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan; died July 24, 2007 while conducting combat operations in Rushidiyah, Iraq by an IED while driving the fourth vehicle in a convoy.

James was an accomplished musician who played both the guitar and trombone and was attending college on a music scholarship. During his freshman year, he decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps because he felt a calling to serve his country. Heath was a very unique and loyal individual, with a classic sense of humor.

He was a wonderful and very much loved son, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew, cousin, boyfriend, and friend to many. All of whom vow to never let his memory, what he stood for, or those who stood along beside him, ever be forgotten.