Army Spec. John Anguiano, Los Fresnos, Texas

Spec. Anguiano

The Army was Edward J. Anguiano's ticket to see the world, his 19-year-old sister Jennifer Anguiano said. Anguiano was a bit of a loner in high school, but leaving the small town of Los Fresnos, outside of the deep South Texas city of Brownsville, brought out the best in him.

After joining the Army and earning the rank of sergeant, Anguiano decided he wanted to live in the Rio Grande Valley and improve his family's lot.

"It's always been about my mom," Jennifer Anguiano said. Their mother, San Juanita Anguiano, is a single mother and it's been tough at times to make ends meet. "It's so sad. He's changed so much. And then this had to happen."

Anguiano, 24, was based at Fort Stewart but traveling with the Fort Bliss-based 507th when it was attacked March 23.

Anguiano, a 1998 graduate of Hanna High School, enlisted in the Army two years ago.

"He's set such a good example," his sister said. "He got into the Army and showed us that the sky is the limit."

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Andrew T. Arnold

CWO Arnold

Andrew T. Arnold hadn't been able to talk with his wife since he left for Iraq. Finally, he was able to make contact and said he expected to be home within three months.

"He had just called his wife on Easter morning and he told her that he had two more days in Iraq then on to Kuwait to work on howitzers," said Charlotte Coin, a neighbor of Arnold's parents in Spring, Texas.

Arnold, 30, based at Camp Lejeune, died April 22 in a grenade launcher accident in Iraq.

"We're all just in shock because the war's supposed to be over," said Cynthia Martinez, a friend of Arnold's wife, Lisa.

In addition to his wife, Arnold is survived by 9-year-old son Austin and 5-year-old daughter Jessica.

Arnold, whose father and grandfather also served in the Marines, joined up right after high school, Coin said. "He did what he thought was right," Coin said.

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Robert Channell

CWO Channell

Robert Channell grew up wanting to join the armed forces and wound up making a 17-year career of the Marine Corps.

"He was one of those kids who you'd say he had always wanted to do that, he had always intended to do that, and so he did," said Channell's stepfather, Mark Sutton of Gordo, Ala.

Channell, 36, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and based at Camp Lejeune, died April 22 in a grenade launcher accident.

"I'm probably prejudiced because I'm his dad, but he's one of the finest men I've ever met in my life," Sutton said. "He was much of a man. He was a good father, a good husband, a good son."

Channell married his high school sweetheart, Joyce, right after boot camp in 1986.

The couple and their 5-year-old daughter planned to move to Japan or Hawaii for their last overseas tour. After retiring from the Marines, the family would have returned to Tuscaloosa, where Channell wanted to earn his bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama.

Alan D. Lam was a talented artist who worked on the high school newspaper staff, the school's principal remembers.

"If you wanted to choose the kind of kid you'd like to have on your high school campus, Alan would be an example of that," said Kent Byrd, principal of Southern Alamance High School in Graham, N.C.

Lam, 19, of Snow Camp, N.C., and based at Camp Lejeune, died April 22 in a grenade launcher accident.

Neighbor Darlene Rios said Lam often helped her cut her lawn or plant flowers. When he was deployed to Iraq, he often sent greetings to her when he called home to his parents.

"You don't see that in young kids," Rios said. "It was like he was raised with a lot of respect."

Lam was the youngest of five children and the only son of Adam and Brenda Lam.

Cpl. Rivero

John T. Rivero told loved ones in a recent letter that he had hurt his ankle while serving in Iraq -- but said he didn't mention it to medics because he was afraid of being removed from his assignment.

"He knew he was doing a good thing and he really felt strongly about what he was doing," said Rivero's sister, Terese Strickland, 28, of Gainesville, Fla.

Rivero, 23, a National Guard infantryman from Gainesville, died April 17 in a vehicle accident in Iraq.

"He felt like he was making the world a better place," said his mother, Patti Gardham of Cambridge, Ontario. "He was always happy and smiling. He was the center of our lives."

Rivero was born in at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. He grew up in Gainesville and enlisted in the National Guard in 1998. He studied computer science and engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and spent a semester on the Bulls' cheerleading squad before being deployed in January.

Air Force Maj. William R. Watkins III

Maj. Watkins

William R. Watkins III played football and sang in the choir during his Virginia high school days -- "he was a big fellow, but very artistic," said English teacher Edward Blain.

After joining the military, Watkins went back to school and helped student actors with a production that included some military elements: "He showed us how to salute," Blain said.

Watkins leaves his wife of five years, Maj. Melissa Watkins, an intelligence officer stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, and his 11-month-old son, William. Melissa Watkins is expecting the couple's second child in August.

Before serving in Iraq, Watkins was a Naval flight officer in the A-6E Intruder and F-14A Tomcat, according to the family. His Navy comrades called him "Salty," said his uncle, Tucker C. Watkins IV, and Watkins kept the nickname when he transferred in 2001 to the Air Force.

"Bill's legacy will continue in the lives of his two children as it will in the memories that each of us holds dear of this truly caring and loving man," his family said in a statement. "We have always been and will continue to be proud to have known him even for this very short time."

Army Sgt. Troy Jenkins, 25, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Sgt. Jenkins

Sgt. Troy Jenkins was a "happy person" who was also courageous, his sister Janelle said.

He was 17 when he joined the Marine Corps, and joined the Army four years later. He trained to be a paratrooper, studied Arabic and served in Afghanistan, where he was grazed by a bullet last year.

"He wasn't scared of anything," said Janelle Jenkins, 27, of Repton, Ala.

Jenkins, a member of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, was critically injured when a cluster bomb exploded as he tried to save an Iraqi child and members of his unit from being harmed, said his mother, Connie Gibson.

He died sometime Wednesday afternoon while being transported from Kuwait to a military hospital in Germany, Gibson said.

"We were just devastated," Gibson said in a telephone interview from her home in Repton. "We were told he was stable."

Military officials initially reported that Saturday's explosion in Baghdad appeared to be an accident involving an Iraqi girl who tried to hand over a piece of unexploded ordnance. But Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Richard Myers said Monday that new information indicated that the child intended to harm the soldiers with "an improvised" explosive, and ran away after she handed it over.

Jenkins, a graduate of Hillcrest High in Evergreen, Ala., lived in Twentynine Palms with his wife, Amanda, and their two sons, Tristan, 4, and Brandon, 2.

Air Force Capt. Eric Bruce Das, 30, Amarillo, Texas

Capt. Das

Duty often kept Air Force Capt. Eric Das away from his wife, but he always stayed in touch.

"We couldn't go a day without talking," said his wife, 1st Lt. Nikki Das, who also was deployed to the Persian Gulf. "He called me all the time, and e-mailed and wrote."

The couple married in 2001, three years after being introduced by Nikki Das' brother.

Eric Das was born in the Netherlands -- where his family was serving as missionaries -- but grew up in Texas. He graduated in 1995 from the Air Force Academy with a degree in civil engineering.

Friends and family say Das' strong faith was an inspiration for them.

"He was the greatest Christian guy I knew," said Doug Jesko. "He was the type of person who made you believe that you could be a better man."

Das was assigned to the 333rd Fighter Squadron of the 4th Fighter Wing, based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. He was piloting an F-15E Strike Eagle on a bombing mission in Iraq when his plane went down on April 7.

"He was doing what he loved that night and flying with people he really loved, too," Nikki Das said.

Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, Waterford, Conn.

Cpl. Chanawongse

Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse enlisted shortly after graduating from Waterford (Conn.) High School in 1999 over the objections of his mother, Tan Patchem.

"He understood it was dangerous, and he was proud of doing it," she said.

Chanawongse, 22, died after his Camp Lejeune-based unit came under attack while attempting to secure a bridge. He had been listed as missing until April 16.

Chanawongse, who came to the United States from Thailand at age 9, played youth soccer and planned from a young age to join the military. His grandfather is a veteran of the Thai air force.

He was known to members of his unit as "Chuckles" for his sense of humor, and one friend said the avid snowboarder was talkative and outgoing: "Every time you turn around, he's gone talking to somebody," said Steve Cava, 22.

But he also had a strong sense of duty, his parents said, and had a Marines tattoo on his arm: "U.S. Marine, made in Parris Island."

"He did it without fear and without delay, even one minute," said his stepfather, Paul Patchem.

Marine Cpl. Jason David Mileo, 20, Centreville, Md.

Cpl. Mileo

The last time his parents heard from Marine Cpl. Jason David Mileo, he was calling them from the central Baghdad square where a statue of Saddam Hussein was being toppled April 9.

His grandfather, Walter J. Hall, said a reporter gave Mileo a satellite phone to call and tell his parents, Phillip J. Hall and Leah Mileo Hall, that he was there. They weren't home to take his call, but have saved the message on their answering machine.

"It was the first time they'd heard from him since war started, and they were extremely relieved and happy to hear he was alive and well and in Baghdad and that victory was imminent," Hall said.

On April 14, five days later, Mileo was shot and killed after he was mistaken for an enemy soldier, the Defense Department said.

Mileo, 20, of Centreville, Md., was assigned to the India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. He joined the Marines after graduating from Chesapeake Senior High School in Pasadena, Md., aiming to earn money and see the world, and hoping that what he learned would help him choose his career wisely.

In one of his last letters, sent to his grandfather from Kuwait, Mileo wrote: "I hope we don't have to go to war, but I'm ready to defend the nation."

Army Spc. Thomas Arthur Foley III, Dresden, Tenn.

Spc. Foley

Thomas Arthur Foley III wanted to be a teacher but couldn't afford to go to college. So he joined the military, and so did his younger brother. The two, born a year apart, were inseparable.

"You didn't see one without the other," said their grandmother, Anetta Courtney.

Foley, 23, of Dresden, Tenn., and based at Fort Campbell, was killed April 14 in an accidental grenade explosion. David Foley, 22, is also serving in Iraq.

Thomas Foley and his wife, Paulette, have a 6-month-old son, relatives said.

Courtney said Foley was "so vivacious" and "always doing something." He loved working with children and riding four-wheelers, said his stepfather, Brian Darden.

"Tommy enjoyed life to fullest. He was a good Christian boy," Darden said.

Army Spc. Richard A. Goward, Midland, Mich.

Spc. Goward

Richard A. Goward served on active duty with the Army from 1990 to 1996, then joined the Michigan National Guard after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"He told me, 'If I can't protect my family, then who can?"' said Goward's wife, Karen.

Goward, 32, of Midland, Mich., was killed April 14 in Iraq when his truck entered a dust cloud and collided with another truck.

Goward's survivors also include two daughters, ages 8 and 5.

"Ric was a wonderful husband and father," his wife said. "He enjoyed jujitsu (a form of martial arts) and outdoor activities."

Army Spec. David T. Nutt

Spc. Nutt

For Heidi Nutt, there was no doubt about David Nutt.

"I knew it from the moment I met him," she said. The two were married seven months after meeting at Fort Campbell, where he was in the Army and she worked in child services.

"He was just a proud, wonderful man," she said. "A strong soldier who never complained."

Nutt, 32, of Blackshear, Ga., was driving a truck in Iraq May 14 when he swerved to avoid an automobile driven by an Iraqi civilian. The truck overturned and Nutt was killed.

He is also survived by their 5-year-old daugther, Emily.

Heidi Nutt last spoke with her husband the day after Mother's Day. She says she remembers every word.

"He wanted to wish me a happy anniversary and he couldn't wait to come home to see us," she said.