Remembering the the Troops Killed in Iraq

By MICHAEL DUFFY, Brian Bennett, Mark Kukis

More than 3,400 Americans have died in Iraq since the war began four years ago. That's two per day, a rate that has increased with the "surge" of 30,000 U.S. troops into Baghdad earlier this year. Those forces have moved out of their relatively secure strongholds in the capital and scattered in smaller units into more dangerous neighborhoods to patrol and live. Since the surge began, sectarian violence among Iraqis has declined slightly in Baghdad, but U.S. casualties have increased, as President George W. Bush predicted. So has the frequency of grievous single days when multiple service members are killed.

April 16 was one of those. Six Americans died in Iraq that day, the same morning as the massacre in Blacksburg, Va., that claimed 32 lives. The service members were not much older than the students at Virginia Tech, their families' losses no less unimaginable. Their stories were never widely told until now.

Shaun Blue was a philosophy student from Indiana who used to read the encyclopedia. Mario De Leon re-enlisted in order to support his new family in California. Aaron Genevie, from southwest Pennsylvania, said his mom was his greatest inspiration. Daniel Scherry of Rocky River, Ohio, always wanted to be a Marine. Illinois native Lucas Starcevich helped outfit his platoon when equipment ran short. Jesse De La Torre was a jazz-playing Bible student from Illinois. They had some things in common: several were in Iraq for their second tour of duty. One begged Army doctors just to let him in the first time.

The surge has always been about buying time--time for the warring factions in Iraq to work out their differences and time for the American public to see progress in Iraq before it decides whether the war is unwinnable. That time is already running out. In Washington, Bush Administration officials are preparing for a two-track strategy later this summer, quietly laying the groundwork for extending the surge--and crafting a new plan in case an extension cannot be sustained politically.

Americans may differ on how best to honor those who have given their lives in this war. Should the fight be redoubled as a tribute to the fallen? Or does our obligation to the dead mean ending the war that took their lives as soon as possible? After the Civil War, Major General John Logan proclaimed the first Memorial Day for the dead on both sides: "We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders." That's the reason we have a Memorial Day: to honor those who died in uniform in an appropriate way, not with hasty escalations or withdrawals but in simple gratitude for their sacrifice.