Army Spc. Gil Mercado, 25, Paterson, N.J.

Spc. Mercado

Army Spc. Gil Mercado had a gentle side. The strapping, athletic young man who boxed with the Paterson, N.J., Police Athletic League also loved to draw and cook.

In Isabela, Puerto Rico, where he grew up, Mercado painted a mural depicting a half-man, half-robot character who defeated evil.

On leave from the Army, he would visit family and cook for them, said his sister, Rosa Mercado of Clifton, N.J.

Mercado, a 25-year-old cook assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Campbell, Ky., was killed April 13 by a "non-combat weapon discharge," said the Department of Defense, which is investigating his death.

One of five children, Mercado had a brother, Alnardo, serving in an artillery unit in Baghdad.

"My father is so devastated he cannot speak," Rosa Mercado said.

Army Pfc. Joseph P. Mayek, 20, Rock Springs, Wyo.

Pfc. Mayek

During his junior year of high school, Joseph Patrick Mayek made the decision between guns and books.

"He was making the choice between college and the military and he basically came to us one day and said, 'the Army's the answer for me,' and we supported him and stood behind him with his decision," his stepfather, David McFadden said.

Mayek, 20, died April 14 after being struck by an armor-piercing round from an infantry fighting vehicle, according to the Department of Defense. The death is under investigation.

"We're devastated. He was our oldest," McFadden said. "How to get a handle on it, I don't know."

The couple last spoke with Mayek on March 16.

"He called to let us know that his unit was headed into Iraq that next day," said his mother, Margaret McFadden. "He was scared and nervous. And he couldn't stand the sand."

Mayek was assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment in Germany. He joined the Army in July after graduating from high school and had been serving with the Army's V Corps.

"He was always a team guy," said Jamie Christensen, who coached Mayek on Rock Springs High School's 2002 championship football team. "He worked hard and he knew his role on the team."

Marine Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, 25, Hialeah, Fla.

Cpl. Gonzalez

Armando Ariel Gonzalez never forgot his family.

He came to the United States from Cuba in 1995 and learned English at Miami-Dade Community College in Florida, said his father, Julio Orlando Gonzalez.

"I'm very proud of him. He was serious, affectionate and responsible," he said. "He always hung out with his brother and me. Even after he married he always came around. He looked after me, his brother and his wife."

The younger Gonzalez, 25, was a driver assigned to Marine Wing Squadron 273, Marine Wing Support Group 27, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in Iraq.

He was killed April 14 when a commercial refueling truck collapsed as he worked beneath it, said Capt. Don Caetano, spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, S.C., where Gonzalez was based.

"This is our first casualty that we've had here at the air station and we're grieving," Caetano said.

Marine Lance Cpl. David Edward Owens Jr., 20, Winchester, Va.

Cpl. Owens

David Edward Owens Jr. joined the Marines after high school as training to become a state trooper.

He wasn't worried about his deployment to Iraq, he told his parents. It was what he had been training for.

"That was his job," his mother said. "He was very proud to be a Marine."

The family was notified April 12 that Owens had been injured in a gun battle in Baghdad. Two days later, the military said he didn't survive his wounds.

Owens, 20, loved hunting and athletics, and was a wrestler and football player in high school.

Debbie Owens said her son was always trying to make her laugh. Whenever he discovered his mother crying, Owens would come over and gently chide her.

He would say, "You don't need to be crying. Why are you crying?" she said. "We couldn't ask for a better child."

Army Pvt. Johnny Brown, 21, Troy, Ala.

Pvt. Brown

When Johnny Brown last e-mailed his family, it was to comfort them.

"He told us he was doing what he loved and not to worry about him and should anything happen to just know he was doing what he loved," said Jessica Brown-Tatum, Brown's sister.

Brown, a 21-year-old private from Alabama, was killed April 14 in Baghdad while serving with the 101st Army Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

"He was a big teddy bear and would do anything for you," Brown-Tatum said. "He had a heart of gold. He was brave and we're very proud of him."

Brown decided last fall to enlist in the Army after serving in the reserves, his sister said. His last e-mail arrived less than a week before his death.

"He just e-mailed to let us know he was OK and that they were winding down and he hoped to be home soon," she said.

Marine Pfc. Chad Bales, 20, Coahoma, Texas

Pfc. Bales

Chad E. Bales wanted an education and a career in the military. His plan was four years in the Marines, four years of college, then back to the Marines as an officer. When he died April 3 he was 20, and in the first year of his plan.

His stepfather, John Wayne Metcalf, of Coahoma, Texas, initially had some concerns about Bales' choice to enlist. Then he saw Bales graduate from boot camp.

"It was so amazing," Metcalf said. "It made him so proud. I had no reservations after that."

The last time his family heard from him, Bales was calling from the desert in mid-March. The wind was whipping up. Static crackled on the line. "The last thing he told his mom was, 'If you think we have sandstorms back at home in Texas, you should see this,"' Metcalf said. Then the line went dead, leaving Bales' mother weepy. "That whole night all she could talk about was how she hadn't gotten to say goodbye or anything."

Marine Pvt. Jonathan Gifford, 30, Decatur, Ill

Pvt. Gifford

Jonathan Gifford was always for the underdog, so it was fitting that he would be fighting for the Iraqi people's freedom, his family said.

"He said, with the way people were treated over there, that he was willing to go," said his mother, Vicky Langley. "I'm very proud of him."

The 30-year-old was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. He died March 23 in fighting as his unit worked to secure bridges on the outskirts of Nasiriyah.

Gifford graduated from high school in 1991 and joined the Marine Corps in 2001, fulfilling an ambition he had harbored since he was a teenager, said his father, John Gifford.

"He had wanted to join a couple times, and being a mother I convinced him not to. But the third time, I knew it was something he really wanted to do so I said OK," his mother said.

Langley, who got the news of her only son's death on Friday, said she had kept up hope he would return. She said she took comfort Sunday watching her divorced son's 4-year-old daughter, Lexie.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeff Bohr, 39, San Clemente, Calif

Sgt. Bohr

Jeff Bohr was a dedicated Marine who was ready to go to war, his father said.

"Jeff wouldn't have had it any other way," said Eddie Bohr.

Bohr, 39, a native of Ossian, Iowa, died in combat April 10.

Bohr, who finished several marathons and ran 10 miles a day, spent a few years in the Army before joining the Marines. He was an instructor at Camp Pendleton before heading to Iraq in January and he lived with his wife, Lori, in San Clemente, Calif.

Eddie Bohr got a few letters from his son during his tour in Iraq. The final letter arrived just hours before Marines came to tell Bohr that his son was killed. In the letter, mailed about two weeks ago, Jeff Bohr said he had just been through a sand storm and battle in the desert.

Marine Lance Cpl. Donald John Cline, 21, Sparks, Nev.

Cpl. Cline in November 2002 with sons Dylan (left) and Dakota.

John and Tina Cline met while attending high school in Sparks, Nev., and married on Oct. 21, 2000 -- the day after he graduated from Marine boot camp.

"He always said he wanted to be a Marine. His whole senior year he was already signed up and ready," Tina Cline said.

Cline, 21, from Camp Lejeune, was killed in combat March 23.

The Clines and their two young sons, Dakota, 2, and 7-month-old Dylan lived at Camp Lejeune until he got his orders to ship out after Christmas.

On March 27, she received a letter that included a hand-carved, 4-inch wooden truck with the word "Dakota" on the side for his son. He explained that he couldn't get to Kuwait City to buy gifts.

"So he and his friend took some Kuwaiti wood and carved this little Dodge Dakota truck because his name is Dakota and my son loves trucks," she said.

Staff Sgt. Riayan A. Tejeda, 26, New York City

Sgt. Tejeda

Candles burned outside the Tejeda family's door in New York City, where a photo of their son, Riayan, was posted along with the words "Our Hero."

Tejeda, 26, was killed April 11 in combat.

"They don't tell me exactly what happened," his father, Julio Tejeda, said. "They only come to my house and say they have bad news for me: My son has been killed in the fighting in Iraq."

Julio Tejeda said his son was a fan of Latin music and always told his mother that he loved her. He was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and is survived by two daughters, ages 3 and 6, Gunnery Sgt. Luz Fontaine said.

Marine Pvt. Nolen Ryan Hutchings, 20, Boiling Springs, S.C.

Pvt. Hutchings

The grief felt by the family of dead Marine Pvt. Nolen Ryan Hutchings is balanced somewhat by the joy of the Iraqis they see on TV.

Hutchings was one of several Marines declared missing after their unit came under attack March 23 as it was securing a bridge near Nasiriyah. His status was changed to killed in action over the weekend.

"The Iraqis are free. We see their happy faces and realize he wasn't there in vain," said Larry Hutchings, the Marine's father, adding that seeing those television images had also diminished hope that his son was alive. "It had been too long. There had been no word."

Nolen Hutchings was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune, N.C. His father said his 20-year-old son was killed in a friendly fire incident.

"He was proud to be a Marine. We were proud of him," Larry Hutchings said. "He would make an effort to help somebody out no matter what kind of problem it was for him."

He said his son grew up wanting to be a Marine. He signed up not long after graduating from Boiling Springs (S.C.) High School in 2000, and left in January for active duty.

Larry Hutchings said it didn't matter that his son was killed in a friendly fire incident. "My son was there; he died for his country," he said.

Navy Lt. Nathan D. White, 30, Mesa, Ariz.

Lt. White

Nathan White had faith -- faith in his religion and faith in the military.

In an e-mail White sent to his family while fighting in Iraq, the Navy aviator said he trusted the officers conducting the war and hoped the effort would be worthy.

"Regardless of the destination, I feel I am trained and prepared for any mission or contingency," White wrote. "I have to have faith that those at the helm have fully weighed the consequences and have determined that the resulting good will far outweigh the bad."

White, the pilot of a F-A-18C Hornet, was killed April 2. The Navy believes his plane was brought down by a Patriot missile. The incident remains under investigation, the Navy said.

In a statement released by the Navy, his family said they are proud of him and that he died doing what he loved.

"Aviation was his passion," the statement read. "He was a man who lived his dream. He died defending this country."

He grew up in Abilene, Texas, and graduated from Cooper High School in 1991. After high school, White attended Brigham Young University. He spent two years serving as a missionary in Japan.

White was assigned to the Strike Fighter Squadron 195, based in Atsugi, Japan, and had been deployed with Carrier Air Wing 5 aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

White's survivors include his wife, Akiko, and his three children, Courtney, Austin and Zachary, who are all in Japan.

Marine Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez

Sgt. Padilla-Ramirez

Fernando Padilla-Ramirez shipped out for Iraq a month ago, only five days after the birth of his second son. He also has a 5-year-old boy.

Padilla-Ramirez, 26, of San Luis, Ariz., was killed March 28 in combat. He was with Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, based in Yuma, Ariz.

"The family is pretty torn up right now," said Joe Harper, mayor of San Luis, a small border city in western Arizona.

Lorenza R. Padilla, Padilla-Ramirez's mother, said her son joined the Marines as a teen and was in the last year of his military commitment. He was born in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, and became an American citizen about two years ago, she said.

Marine Maj. Kevin G. Nave

Maj. Nave

Family and childhood friends of Kevin G. Nave say he always knew he wanted to be in the Marines.

He attended the University of Michigan on an ROTC scholarship and went to Marine officers school immediately after college, said T.J. McCullough, a high school classmate and ex-Marine.

Nave, 36, of White Lake Township, Mich., died March 26 in a vehicle accident.

A veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he was stationed at Camp Pendleton and is survived by his wife, Carrie, and their two children.

Nave particularly enjoyed commanding Marines, said Sgt. William Stewart of a Wisconsin-based unit where Nave previously served.

"He had a particular attention to detail," Stewart said. "He was very hands-on, very educated and well spoken."

Pfc. Michael Russell Creighton-Weldon

Pfc. Creighton-Weldon

Michael Russell Creighton-Weldon decided to follow in his mother's footsteps when he enlisted in the Army last year.

Her son was a muscular 5-foot-10 and chose the infantry "because he's a tough guy," said his mother, Sgt. Major Jean Weldon, who recently retired.

Creighton-Weldon, 20, of Palm Bay, Fla., was killed March 29 when a car drove up to an Army checkpoint and exploded.

He had a 23-year-old sister and a 15-year-old brother, and became engaged before leaving for Iraq.

"My son was the strength of the household," Jean Weldon said. "After I got divorced, Michael was the man of the house."

Creighton-Weldon wrote in his last letter that he was trying to be a good soldier.

"The last thing he wrote in the letter was, 'I love you, Mom,"' Weldon said.