Army Spc. Blain M. Ebert

Shortly after arriving in Iraq with his Army unit, Blain Matthew Ebert asked people in his home town to send clothes and shoes for Iraqi children and the residents responded with box after box of that and more.

"He spent every moment over there worrying about those people," said his father, Michael Ebert. "In his eyes, love and the future of Iraq were going to come through the Iraqi children."

Ebert, 22, of Washtucna, Wash. died Nov. 22 in a hostile attack. He was stationed at Fort Hood.

Raised on his family's wheat farm, Ebert loved farming, deer hunting, snowmobiling and football. He joined the Army before graduating from high school and was married two years later to his wife, Shalanta.

He was injured last month when a car bomb exploded near his tank. But after a couple weeks of desk work nursing a bruised eardrum and sore back, he asked to be returned to combat, his father said.

Ebert popped his head out of his tank's command hatch and "a sniper got him," his father said.

Marine Sgt. Benjamin C. Edinger

At 6'4" and in tiptop shape, Benjamin Edinger had the imposing look of a true Marine. Those who knew him best, though, talk about his softer side.

"He was absolutely sweet. You use the term gentle giant and that absolutely described Ben," his uncle James Downey said.

Edinger, 24, of Green Bay, Wis., died Nov. 25 of wounds sustained in a Nov. 14 attack. He was based at Camp Lejeune.

Edinger graduated from high school in 1999 and attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a year but "felt he was wasting the money" because he was unsure what he wanted to do, his grandmother Barbara Downey said.

While in the service he decided to study to become a veterinarian. He planned to enroll at the University of Wisconsin next fall and hoped to be a walk-on football player.

"That was the last e-mail I got from him, indicated that he wanted to go to Wisconsin and play football," his uncle said.

He is survived by his father, Mont Edinger, and his mother and step-father, Rose and Randy Scannell.

Marine Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth

Cpl. Ellsworth

The last time Justin M. Ellsworth's grandparents saw him was at their 50th wedding anniversary party in July.

Ellsworth left in September for Iraq and was killed Nov. 13 by a roadside bomb in Fallujah.

"It's really hard to accept," his grandmother, Sue Ellsworth, said, "He was so sure everything was going to be fine. ... He was doing what he believed in. He said, 'We're saving lives every day."'

Ellsworth, 20, of Mount Pleasant, Mich., was assigned to Camp Pendleton.

Ellsworth played football and hockey in high school and enjoyed riding horses and bulls and skiing in the Rocky Mountains.

He was proud of his role in the U.S. assault on Fallujah, his father said.

"The last few weeks, he had been pulled out of his platoon and placed with a reconnaissance unit," Ellsworth's father, police Sgt. John Ellsworth, said, "Justin was very proud of the fact that he was chosen for this special duty."

He is also survived by his mother, Tracy Ross.

Army Sgt. Christian P. Engeldrum

Sgt. Engeldrum

Christian Engeldrum was a New York City firefighter who rushed to the burning World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and arrived just as the first tower collapsed.

"He was a great fireman," said fire Lt. Brian Horton. "He was 100 percent soldier. He loved his country, and he loved being a fireman."

Engeldrum, 39, of New York, was killed Nov. 30 in Baghdad, Iraq, when his vehicle struck a bomb. He was a reservist based in New York.

Engeldrum spent months digging through the rubble of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11. He was shown in a photograph in newspapers around the world hoisting a torn American flag above the rubble.

Engeldrum was a five-year fire veteran who previously served as a police officer and was on active duty in the Army from 1986 to 1991.

"He was a lucky man -- he got to do what he loved," Horton said.

He is survived by his wife Sharon, who is pregnant, and sons Sean and Royce.

Marine Lance Cpl. Bradley M. Faircloth

As a teenage football player, Bradley M. Faircloth was passionate about the sport. After he joined the Marines, he remained an avid supporter of his high school team -- even watching videotapes of their 2004 season while he was in Iraq.

"He loved playing football," Kathleen Faircloth-Smith said of her son. "He worked really hard for it."

The 20-year-old from Mobile, Ala., was killed Nov. 26 in Iraq's Anbar province. He requested before his death that donations be made to his high school for a football team statue.

Faircloth, who was assigned to Camp Lejeune, was injured twice in the two weeks before his death. "He was tough," his mother said.

As a child, the Marine traveled with his mother on church mission trips to Jamaica and Ghana. "He was a rebel with a cause," his mother said, pointing to a picture of her son beaming in a classroom surrounded by children.

"He was so focused, so determined," said former classmate Gab Hargett. "One of the last things Brad said to me was, 'I'm fighting for you."'

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Steven W. Faulkenburg

Steven Faulkenburg tried working factory jobs after high school. But it wasn't for him. The Army was.

Faulkenburg spent 26 years in the military, seeing parts of the world he likely never envisioned as a youth growing up in Kentucky and Indiana.

The 45-year-old from Huntingburg, Ind., was killed by small arms fire on Nov. 9 in the battle against insurgents in Fallujah. He was based in Vilseck, Germany.

One of six children, Faulkenburg enjoyed the outdoors and liked to hunt and trap, said his brother Walter Faulkenburg.

"He was not happy being cooped up," he said.

He leaves his wife, Tonya, a daughter and two stepdaughters in Germany.

Army Sgt. Maurice Keith Fortune

Sgt. Fortune

Maurice Keith Fortune came from a family with a military tradition dating to World War I.

"All the boys were in the military," said his uncle, Maurice P. Fortune. "My grandfather was in the first World War, and we had three uncles in the second World War."

Fortune, 25, listed Forestville, Md. as his home town and has relatives in the Washington area. He joined the Army about four years ago and was stationed at Camp Hovey, Korea.

He was killed Oct. 29 in Ramadi, Iraq, when a car bomb exploded near his vehicle.

"He was just a young man from a poor family reaching out to (improve) his condition and he chose the way that he wanted to do it by entering the service," said his father, Littleton Fortune, who made a career of the Air Force and then retired to live in the Philippines.

Sgt. Fortune is survived by his wife and an infant daughter.

Marine Lance Cpl. Travis A. Fox

When Gary Fox remarried in 1998, his son Travis stood by him as his best man. The following year, when his father was sentenced to jail for eight years, Travis remained by Gary's side.

"Even though I'm incarcerated, he was never ashamed of me," the father said. "He never lost respect for me."

Travis Fox, 25, of Cowpens, S.C., was among the Marines killed Oct. 30 when a car bomb exploded near their convoy in Anbar province, Iraq. He was stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

When it was Travis' turn to get married, he waited before showing the engagement ring to his mother, Cheryl Fox. He wanted to consult his father first, she said.

The two men corresponded by mail frequently while Travis served abroad. The son asked his father if he was doing all right financially.

"My son's out there risking his life, but he's worried about me," Gary said.

Travis Fox is survived by his wife, Casie.

Army Spc. Bryan L. Freeman

Bryan Freeman

Bryan Freeman came from a family of soldiers. Both of his grandfathers were in the military; one was a member of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the first African-American airborne unit.

"My son kind of looked up to my father," said his father, also named Bryan.

Freeman, of Lumberton, N.J., died Nov. 8 after being was shot while searching a vehicle at a checkpoint in Baghdad. He was part of a special operations until based in Warwick, R.I.

Freeman, 31, aspired to be a New Jersey state trooper and had completed the qualifying tests for the job just before leaving for Iraq.

"He was everything that's good in our young people today," his father said.

Freeman worked as a substance abuse counselor and was a volunteer wrestling coach at his former high school.

"He was one of the most well-liked coaches out there," coach John Godoy said. "All he would talk about was wrestling, the season and about the kids."

Freeman is survived by his parents and fiancee, Jackie De Carlo.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Gadsden

Jonathan Gadsden

Jonathan E. Gadsden seemed an unlikely soldier.

"He said, 'I'm a lover not a fighter,' but when it came time for him to fight he did what he had to do," recalled his sister, Sonya Gilliard.

The combat engineer, described by friends and family as a meek and quiet man, was wounded by enemy fire on Aug. 21, 2004 in Al Anbar Province in Iraq. He died of his wounds Oct. 21 at the James Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Fla.

Gadsden, 21, was born in Charleston, S.C., and lived in Jamestown, about 30 miles north of the city. He was based at Camp Pendleton and was only a few weeks from returning home from his second deployment in Iraq when he was wounded.

Gadsden joined the Marines in 2002 just a few weeks after graduating from high school, where he was a member of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.

He grew up in a family of seven children and was active in both the Believers Temple in St. Stephen, S.C., and Jerusalem Baptist Church.

"He loved all of us, and we love him," Gilliard said.

Marine Lance Cpl. Dimitrios Gavriel

Cpl. Gavriel

Dimitrios Gavriel was a successful real estate securities analyst working on Wall Street when two of his friends died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The experience haunted him. Resolving to fight terrorism, he joined the Marines last year after first being rejected because of high school wrestling injuries in both knees.

Gavriel, 29, of New York, was killed Nov. 19 in a hostile attack. He was based at Camp LeJeune.

"I saw him before he left," said friend and former wrestling teammate Matt Marino. "He knew it wasn't the popular thing to do. He knew what the right thing was."

Gavriel, originally of Plaistown, N.H., was a heavyweight wrestler who received a college degree from Brown University before going on to Wall Street.

He is survived by parents Chris and Penelope Gavriel.

Marine Cpl. Peter J. Giannopoulos

Peter Giannopoulos' parents weren't thrilled when he decided to risk his life for his country. As a varsity athlete and National Merit Scholarship finalist, he had a promising college career ahead of him.

"He decided early in his senior year that he wanted to go into the Marines and that's what he did," said his father, John. "We weren't too happy about it, but we weren't going to try and stop him."

Giannopoulos, 22, of Inverness, Ill., was killed Nov. 11 in a hostile attack in Iraq's Babil province. He was based in Chicago.

A goal tender on his high school's hockey team, Giannopoulos got his parents to sign a waiver so he could join the reserves at 17. He attended Purdue University and was planning to transfer to Northern Illinois University when his unit was activated in June.

In a high school essay, he explained his motto -- "Live to win, dare to fail" -- and why he wanted to become a Marine. "The military would sharpen the virtues that cannot be taught in the classroom, like honor, commitment, courage, valor and camaraderie."

He is survived by his parents.

Army Pvt. Brian K. Grant

A New York City native and son of a New York firefighter, Brian K. Grant took the Sept. 11 attacks personally. They motivated him to leave behind his life in Dallas and join the Army full-time.

"I was a fireman in New York City and lost many friends (in the attacks)," said the soldier's older brother Michael Grant. "His brother Kevin was a policeman and lost friends. I think it had an influence on his life."

The 31-year-old was killed Nov. 26 by small arms fire in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. He was assigned to Camp Howze, Korea.

As a soldier, Grant impressed family members by joining an elite Army group.

"He got right into special forces," Michael Grant said. "He was a good man. It's not an easy job to get right away."

Co-workers in Dallas remembered the service sales representative as kind and diligent.

"He was real conscientious," said Cheryl Duffey, Grant's office manager. "He took the time to get to know his customers. He was real friendly."

He is survived by his parents, John and Carol Grant.

Army Sgt. Jose Guereca Jr.

Jose Guereca Jr. was virtually born in camouflage. So it was no surprise to family members that he put on a uniform when he grew up.

"He always talked about it ever since he was a kid. He was always outside playing guns. He read about it, watched movies. That is what he wanted to do. He accomplished his goal," said his father, Robert Guereca.

Jose Guereca, 24, of Missouri City, Texas, died Nov. 30 when his vehicle was hit by an improvised bomb in Fallujah. He was assigned to Fort Hood.

His sister, Rita Diaz, said her brother was a special person who was mature beyond his years. "Even though I was the oldest. I looked up to him like he was the oldest," she said.

Guereca was a 2000 high school graduate and joined the Army shortly after school ended. He is survived by twin 5-year-old sons, a 6-year-old son and his wife, Patricia, is expecting a child early next year.

Diaz said she found it hard to believe her brother had died.

"I can't believe he is gone," she said. "He was a great person, a great dad, a great brother and I know he was a great son to my parents. He is going to be missed."