Army Capt. James Adamouski, 29, Savannah

Adamouski and his wife Meighan in January.

Capt. James Adamouski knew that his mother worried about him flying so he frequently reassured her: "I'll be safe, and I'll fly low, and I'll fly fast."

Adamouski and five other members of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, died April 2 when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in central Iraq. Adamouski had more than 1,000 hours logged flying the Black Hawk but wasn't the pilot when the accident occurred.

"I wanted him in tanks," Judy Adamouski said. "But he'd always tell me, 'Mom, the Black Hawk is the safest helicopter the Army has."'

Adamouski was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he played soccer. He was so good that he played for a semi-professional team when he was stationed in Germany.

"Anything with a ball he loved," said Meighan Adamouski, his wife of seven months. "He drove me nuts watching sports, but he let me watch the Home and Garden Network. He was great that way. I used to ask God why I was so lucky to have been given such a great husband."

Adamouski had just been accepted to Harvard Business School and planned to teach economics at West Point after earning a master's degree in business administration.

"What his West Point buddies told us is that Jimmy died the way they wanted to die," his father said. "He died in a blaze of glory, and he's an American hero."

Marine Reserve Sgt. Bradley Korthaus, 28, Davenport, Iowa

Sgt. Korthaus

Before Bradley Korthaus's funeral in Davenport, Iowa, his family posted photos near the church entrance.

One showed a smiling youngster wearing a navy blue sailor's outfit with a white cap at a tilt. Another pictured him outpacing friends in a watermelon-eating contest.

Korthaus, 28, known as "Cruiser" to his friends, drowned March 24 while crossing the Saddam Canal in Iraq.

Korthaus wanted to be a Marine since he was 10, said his father, Steve Korthaus, a Marine who served in Vietnam. When he called home, Korthaus said he was eager to help rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein.

"He was ready. He was over-ready in fact," Steve Korthaus said. "He would have been mad if he didn't get to go."

Korthaus joined the Marines after high school in 1992 and served for four years, his father said. Once he returned home, he missed the military and joined the Reserves.

Army Marine Sgt. Michael Pedersen, 26, Flint, Mich.

Sgt. Pedersen

Sgt. Michael Pedersen joined the Army right out of high school and was a great father to his 7-year-old daughter, his widow said Saturday.

A Flint, Mich., native who was one of six soldiers killed in the crash of an Army Black Hawk helicopter last week during a fire fight in Iraq, was a helicopter crew chief with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

Chanel Pedersen said she was notified by the Army about her husband's death earlier this week.

"He was a quiet person," Chanel Pedersen, 24, said by telephone from her home in Savannah, Ga. "A great father. He loved his daughter. He was an excellent soldier."

She said she met her husband while growing up in Flint. She said they attended the same high school before they married in 1997, but had been separated at the time of his death.

In recent days, Chanel Pedersen said she has told their daughter, Destiny, that her father won't be back.

"She's doing fine. I explained to her that her father is with Jesus," Chanel Pedersen said. "We're pretty much coping."

Army Capt. Russiell Rippetoe, 27, Arvada, Colo.

Capt. Rippetoe

Rippetoe, who was killed when a car exploded at an Iraqi checkpoint, joined ROTC as a junior at Metro State College in Denver -- two years later than most cadets.

But he was a natural leader and quickly gained responsibilities in the unit, said Capt. Steve Walker, who recruited him.

"Folks just sort of respected him. At 5 in the morning he had a smile on his face and was ready for a workout," Walker said.

To keep a closer eye on younger cadets, Rippetoe moved to Boulder and commuted 25 miles into Denver for classes. He hoped for a career in law enforcement.

"He was very interested in making a difference and serving in the military fit into that," said Lt. Col. Michael Nifong, who directed the University of Colorado's ROTC program when Rippetoe was a member.

Nifong last saw Rippetoe when he returned to CU in December 2001 for the commissioning of a cadet he knew.

Rippetoe, whose family declined to comment Saturday, graduated from Metro in 1999 and became a Ranger in the 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Sgt. George Edward Buggs, 31, Barnwell, S.C.

Sgt. Buggs

Sgt. George Edward Buggs had spent 10 years in the Army and was considering making it a career when the convoy he was riding with was ambushed in southern Iraq.

His 12-year-old son had been "worried about his dad not seeing him grow up," said his wife, Wanda Buggs.

"It's not something you get over," she said.

Buggs had been raised by his grandparents in rural Barnwell, S.C., and was a soft-spoken young man when he and Wanda fell in love in high school.

He joined the Army in 1992 and was a mechanic with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., fixing tanks and Humvees. He loved the Army and "all the things that it could offer," his wife said.

Buggs, 31, was traveling with the 507th Maintenance Company because it needed an extra mechanic with his skills when the convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq on March 23 and Buggs was killed.

"We hate very much to know this," said the soldier's grandfather, George Buggs. "We hate it, but there ain't nothing we can do about it."

Army Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland

Sgt. Dowdy

Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy followed his older brother into the service 18 years ago and was just two years from retirement.

"He was dedicated to the military," said his brother, Army Reserve Master Sgt. Jack Dowdy Jr., but the "biggest joy in his life" was his teenage daughter.

Last fall, Dowdy told his wife, Kathleen, he had accepted an order to ship out to Kuwait in the place of another soldier. He in southern Iraq with the 507th Maintenance Company when the convoy was ambushed and he was killed.

Dowdy grew up in Cleveland, enlisted in the Army after high school and served on bases in Korea and across the United States. He had fond memories of his first Army assignment, in Fort Polk, La., and had bought a house not far from the base, where he and his wife planned to retire.

"There's a lot of unanswered questions," said David Armontrout, a cousin of Dowdy. "It would be nice to get some answers."

Army Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas

Estrella-Soto

Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto was a mechanic's son who was born across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood east of El Paso, Texas.

The 18-year-old had become a naturalized citizen several years ago and enlisted in the Army shortly after graduating from high school last spring.

His father didn't want him to go.

"I knew it was a difficult life," Ruben Estrella Sr. But he said the teenager wanted an education and aimed for a career in computers or engineering.

Estrella-Soto, a member of the 507th Maintenance Company, was killed after the his convoy was ambushed last month in Iraq.

The Rev. Edward Roden-Lucero, pastor of San Juan Diego Blessed Catholic Church in El Paso, said the family was puzzled as to how their son ended up in danger so quickly. "They're all very, very sad. They're all taking it very hard," he said.

Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, Comfort, Texas

Spc. Kiehl

Spc. James M. Kiehl spent his childhood in a military family in Southern California, the son of a mother who served in the Navy and father in the Army.

His wife, Jill, was pregnant with a son when Kiehl was killed after a March 23 ambushed in Iraq.

Before he went overseas with the 507th Maintenance Company, Kiehl gave his wife a teddy bear with a taped message she could listen to whenever she became lonely: "I'll see you when I get back," it says.

Their son is due in May, and his wife is staying with her parents in Des Moines, Iowa.

"It has been a trying time for them and they want everyone to know how much the concern for them has helped them get through the past two weeks," said Col. Robert King, a spokesman for the Iowa National Guard.

Kiehl, 22, was a teenager when his parents divorced and he moved with his father to Comfort, Texas, where he excelled in basketball and played the trumpet. He joined the Army after graduation, hoping to build his computer skills.

"He's going to be remembered as someone who always wanted to help and always pitched in and always struggled to do his best for everyone," said his stepmother, Janie Kiehl.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, Pecos, Texas

CWO Villareal Mata

Johnny Villareal Mata grew up in the small town of Pecos, Texas, played high school football and joined the Army as a teenager to make it his career.

"Whatever he was required to do, he was willing to do," said his cousin Javier Contreras. "Even giving his life for his country."

Villareal Mata, 35, was a member of the 507th Maintenance Company and was killed after his convoy was attacked March 23. He is survived by his wife, Nancili, and his children, Eric, 16, and Stephani, 7.

Command Sgt. Maj. Jeremiah Saiz, who worked in the same office with Mata, said Mata knew everything about the vehicles he worked on, from electrical systems to engine mechanics.

"Everyone wanted to be around him," Saiz said. "He was the most knowledgeable in his area of expertise."

Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, Tuba City, Ariz.

Pfc. Piestewa

Pfc. Lori Piestewa was a member of the Hopi Tribe and the first American servicewoman killed in the war in Iraq.

"Our family is proud of her. She is our hero," her brother Wayland said. "We are going to hold that in our hearts. She will not be forgotten. It gives us comfort to know that she is at peace right now."

Piestewa, 23, a single mother raising two small children, enlisted in the Army two years ago but had always been interested in a military career. As a high school student, she served as a commanding officer of Junior ROTC. Her father and grandfather also served in the Army.

She was with a convoy of the 507th Maintenance Company, based at Fort Bliss, Texas, that was ambushed March 23 in Iraq.

"She will be remembered as a daughter, as a proud mother of two, as a good friend able to comfort others in distress," Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor said.

Army Pvt. Brandon Sloan, 19, Bedford Heights, Ohio

Pvt. Sloan

Pvt. Brandon Sloan grew up a Baptist preacher's son in the Cleveland suburb of Bedford Heights, Ohio.

He had a passion for sports, and played defensive lineman on the high school football team, but his senior year, he dropped out to enlist in the Army.

He thought the Army could help him develop his potential, said his father, the Rev. Tandy Sloan, an associate pastor of Historic Greater Friendship Baptist Church in Cleveland.

Rev. Sloan said his religion is now helping him cope with his 19-year-old son's death in a convoy of the 507th Maintenance Company ambushed in Iraq.

"I'm trusting in the Lord. The Lord is still able," Rev. Sloan said before a Sunday service at his church.

Congregation member Karen Cunningham said the death was rough on the church community.

"We love our pastor and we're one big family," Cunningham said. "When something tragic like this happens, it's not just the Sloan family. It's the Greater Friendship family."

Army Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Kansas City, Mo.

Sgt. Walters

Sgt. Donald Walters joined the Army after graduating from high school in Salem, Ore., and served in the first Gulf War, guarding captured Iraqi soldiers.

"He came back pretty traumatized from that experience," his sister, Kimberly Cieslak said. "He told us he had to see way too many dead people, and the children were the worst part."

His mother, Arlene, had filled scrapbooks with news clippings about the combat and taped TV footage to show him when he returned, but he didn't want to think about the fighting, she said.

After a divorce and remarriage, Walters re-enlisted, hoping to build a more stable life for his second wife and their baby daughter.

The father of three young daughters was serving as a cook with the 507th Maintenance Company in Iraq when he was killed after a convoy he was traveling with was ambushed March 23.

His sister had described Walters as full of love for his "life ... people ... his children."

Army Staff Sgt. Nino D. Livaudais, 23, Fort Mitchell, Ala.

Sgt. Livaudais with wife Jackie and children, Destre and Carson.

Staff Sgt. Nino Livaudais had been assigned to Afghanistan twice, and Iraq was his third combat tour in two years.

"He had a purpose. He was doing his part as an American. I knew I never was going to get him behind a desk," said his wife, Jackie Livaudais, who is pregnant with their third child.

"He wanted to make the world better and get the bad guys," she said.

On April 3, Livaudais was at a checkpoint northwest of Baghdad when a pregnant woman jumped from the car, screaming, and the vehicle exploded. He and two other Army Rangers from the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, were killed.

Livaudais, 23, graduated in 1997 from Washington High School in Ogden, Utah, joined the Army a year later and became a ranger in 1999. He planned to make the military a career.

"He believed in his country very much," said high school classmate Chris Hatch. "He always was politically aware of what was going on in the world, and he very much supported and believed in what he was doing. He wanted to be in the action. He yearned for something, something dangerous."

Marine Capt. Travis Ford, 30, Oceanside, Calif.

Capt. Ford

In e-mails to his relatives, Marine Capt. Travis Ford, a helicopter pilot, wrote that he was seeing things in Iraq he didn't want to see, but he felt worse for the ground troops who couldn't return to base.

"I know there were some trying times out there for him," but he didn't let that get him down, said his brother, Alex Ford. "He epitomized the Marine Corps leadership. He was probably more concerned about his troops than his own welfare."

Ford had followed his brother, now a Marine reservist and FBI agent, into the military. On April 5, he was returning from a mission near Baghdad when his Super Cobra gunship crashed, killing him and another Marine, said his father-in-law, Bob Tipton.

"He died giving his life for the country," Alex Ford said. "That is a tremendous sacrifice, but he did so willingly."

Ford, 30, grew up in Ogallala, Neb., and lived in Oceanside, Calif., near Camp Pendleton, with his wife, Deon, and their 1-year-old daughter, Ashley.

He was a cheerleader at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and relatives said, he proposed to his wife over a megaphone in Lincoln's Memorial Stadium as other cheerleaders held up placards reading "Will You Marry Me, Deon?"

Army Reserve Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19, Portland, Ore

Spc. Tobler

Brandon Tobler -- artist, dreamer, only child -- was in many ways a typical soldier. The Portland teenager was the son of a Vietnam veteran and the grandson of a World War II veteran. As with many families of those who have died in Iraq, money was tight at home. Tobler's mother is a part-time teacher's aide, and his father is a factory worker. Tobler delayed getting his driver's license so his parents would not have to pay extra for insurance.

When he graduated from high school in 2001, joining the reserves, living at home and working part-time at Best Buy were his best options, said his uncle, Scott Tom.

"The Army Reserve was perfect, because he could earn money for college; he wouldn't put more of a financial burden on his parents," Tom said.

More than a third of the dead were under the age of 24, many of whom, like Tobler, joined straight out of high school. Their numbers are lower than those of the overall military; nearly half of all soldiers are under 24.

In the reserves, Tobler grew to love the camaraderie, the sense of duty, wearing his uniform to church on Christmas, and being his dad's "little warrior."

"He had a really romantic view of what the Army would be," said Angela Larisch, one of his best friends from childhood. "The rest of us, all his friends, we never quite understood."

Tobler's family and friends had thought he had been called to go to war. But after his death, Army officials told them that Tobler had volunteered to be one of 10 in his unit to go.

"It surprised me, because we had a conversation about the war, and he was very unsure of its motives," Larisch said. "But he was very, very loyal, and he had a strong sense of duty and purpose."

Before he died, he told his parents by e-mail, "If I can save one life, if I can do something that makes a family sleep easier at night without fear, then I have done my purpose.

"If you see a soldier, one of my comrades in arms, please thank them for the service," he wrote. "Because we soldiers give up sooo much to come out here and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice."

Tobler died March 22 in a vehicle accident. Thursday, Tobler was buried with a 21-gun salute in the same church where he had been baptised 19 years earlier. Thinking about it made Tom break into tears.