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WILDOMAR – When Justin Hunt first tried to join the Marine Corps, the recruiters didn't have a scale that could weigh him. So they simply estimated that he was more than 150 pounds above the maximum limit to join the service. Hunt, a hulking athlete then two years out of high school, didn't let that stop him. He worked out hard, changed his diet and shed the pounds so he could enlist. Now his family is trying to hold on to the memories of that hard-charging year as they grieve for the 22-year-old lance corporal who was killed in an...

Four US marines killed in Iraq Four US marines have been killed while on patrol in the restive province of Anbar, western Iraq, according to the US military. The soldiers were members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The attack reportedly took place near the Sunni-dominated city of Falluja, the scene of fierce clashes between US soldiers and Iraqi insurgents in April. More than 600 US soldiers have died in action since the start of the campaign in Iraq last year. Insurgent attacks have continued against US targets since the US announced a handover of key powers to an...

According to Richard Engle in Baghdad, four soldiers have been killed in a mortar attack in Samarra. In addition two soldiers are missing and 18 have been wounded.

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) -- Pat Tillman, who quit the NFL to join the Army and was killed in Afghanistan earlier this year, was posthumously given the Audie Murphy Patriotism Award. The annual award, named for the most highly decorated U.S. soldier of World War II, was presented at a Fourth of July celebration Sunday. The award was given to the newly formed Pat Tillman Foundation, formed to carry on Tillman's spirit by helping families of soldiers killed overseas. Tillman's brother-in-law, Alex Garwood, who is president of the foundation, accepted the award along with Tillman's parents, Pat and Mary Tillman, who...

Four Marines killed in Ramadi were elite snipers sent on a dangerous mission into the hostile town to pick off terrorists, the family of one of the slain troops said yesterday. The four - highly trained marksmen who were one of the U.S.' most lethal weapons against insurgents in the restive Sunni town and in the infamous siege of Fallujah - were killed Monday, far from any backup. One of the soldiers had been the sole survivor of another attack in Ramadi last April, an incident that led him to take on the more dangerous role of a sniper. "All...

Roadside bomb, rocket kill two Fort Lewis soldiers in Iraq They were serving in separate military convoys in northern part of country THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FORT LEWIS -- Two soldiers based at Fort Lewis have been killed in separate attacks on U.S. military convoys in northern Iraq. Both were members of Fort Lewis-based Task Force Olympia, which includes the Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis as well as other active-duty, National Guard and Army Reserve units from across the United States. Spc. Trevor A. Wine, 22, of Orange, Calif., died Saturday in Tikrit from injuries he suffered when his convoy vehicle...

He truly died an American hero. Pat Tillman, the NFL-star-turned-G.I., was awarded a Silver Star yesterday for saving fellow Special Operations soldiers last month from a sneak attack by heavily armed militants in Afghanistan, the military disclosed yesterday. As a team of Army Rangers was trapped in cavernous terrain and warding off incoming mortars and gunfire, Tillman, 27, led a team up a hill close to a position held by enemy fighters, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command said. Tillman's team had already made it out of the area but returned when an Army squad trailing them was ambushed. "As...

<p>April 24, 2004 -- Is there a more overused, sadly abused word in the English language than hero?</p> <p>Of course not.</p> <p>So let's restore some of its true meaning: Pat Tillman, football star and Army Ranger, died a hero in Afghanistan Thursday, in the service of his nation.</p>

ROME, April 15 (Reuters) - An Italian hostage killed in Iraq was hailed on Thursday as a hero who in his last moments told his kidnappers defiantly: "I'm going to show you how an Italian dies." Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted earlier this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands and withdraw some 3,000 troops stationed in Iraq. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head. "When the murderers were...

The dead man was identified as Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, a security guard. As the gunman's pistol was pointing at him the hostage "tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'now I'll show you how an Italian dies,'" he said. Meanwhile, three Japanese hostages held in Iraq have been released, the government in Tokyo has confirmed. The Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera has broadcast images of the three, who it said had been handed over safe and well to Muslim clerics. Japan is investigating reports that two more of its citizens - freelance journalists - have been abducted. Tape withheld Al-Jazeera...

Tender moment ... US Marines pray over fallen buddy GRIEF-stricken US Marines huddle together in prayer over the body of a dead pal yesterday. For a few precious moments of mourning the tough troopers turned from the fury of battle at Fallujah to bid him farewell. The Marines had fought hard to keep their buddy alive. They had bound his head wound after he was hit by shrapnel, then defied enemy fire to carry him to a first-aid post. But nothing could save him. Mercy dash ... US soldier carried to safety The casualty was among more than 40 Americans...