Free Republic

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At a parade ground where Saddam Hussein once reviewed his troops, American soldiers gathered Saturday to remember and shed tears for eight comrades and three journalists who died during the war. "We are standing at the heart of a regime that struck fear into the hearts of the people," said Col. David Perkins of Keene, N.H., commanding officer of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade. "There are things worth dying for," he said. "Freedom is one of those things." At the center of the ceremony were eight M-16 automatic rifles with bayonets, stuck into a wooden bench....

Dorothy Oxendine presides over American Gold Star Mothers Inc., a national organization of women whose sons and daughters have died in military service to the nation. (Photo by Mark Abraham) AMERICAN IDENTITY With the Iraq War, a New Generation of Gold Star Mothers BY DELIA M. RIOS More stories by Delia M. Rios WASHINGTON -- As Dorothy Oxendine knows, the most dreaded words a parent can hear are "We regret to inform you ..." She lost her only son, Pfc. Willie F. Oxendine III, to a land mine in Vietnam on May 30, 1968. His death at age 21...

Split-second, no-choice decision haunts unit Fri Apr 11, 5:39 AM ET BAGHDAD I t wasn't supposed to be this way. They weren't supposed to kill one of their own. But each night, soldiers in the Headquarters Company, 4/64 Task Force, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, go to sleep thinking about Capt. Ed Korn -- a man they barely knew but now can never forget. They cannot shake the memory of April 4, when they mistook Korn, 31, for an Iraqi fighter and unwittingly killed him. ''We talk about it every day,'' said the 28-year-old commander of a tank-like Bradley Fighting...

Names of the four US Marines who died in yesterday's helicopter crash: Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, of Waterville, Maine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill. Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston, Texas Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29, of Baltimore, Md. The Pentagon has just released the names of two more US Marines who were killed in Iraq. I'll post as soon as I find that.