Army Pfc. Marc Delgado
Oct. 19, 2005

sorry it's been so long since I've written. But we've been working 12-hour days and then doing other stuff on top of that, so writing to you is hard. I'm sorry. But I took the time to write you [now] because I'm tired anyway and I don't really care anymore. I'll just be tired … I do the same thing everyday so any news is new news to me … Well, I can barely keep my eyes open so I'm gonna go. Love you, mom. I'll see you in about 3 months or so.

Delgado, 21, of Lithia, Fla., died Nov. 24, 2005.

Army Cpl. Daniel Freeman
Feb. 20, 2005

About what you said in your last e-mail, i absolutely agree that what i have experienced in the army is far more profound than anything else in my life. The things that I'm able to deal with would blow most people's minds. i've learned that my mind can be my ally as well as my enemy, and I'm constantly fighting it. This applies both mentally and physically. In my life right now i have many people and personalities that i have to deal with. I had to teach myself how to be a more flexible person, when dealing with all of these personalities. In reality i don't have an option when in combat these are the people fighting to the left and right of me. Physically I've learned how to push myself to my limits and once there, continue to go. You'll be amazed how easy your mind will set limits, but how far your body will go. I've run further, marched longer, and been awake for more days than i ever thought my body could handle. Another reality for me is that i now realize that when i joined, i was jaded by thought of glory and grandeur. I no longer fight for a country, a flag or anything we view as patriotic. I fight for my friends who are next to me in combat, i fight to get home, I fight for the simple fact that i refuse to die in a land so far from those who are dearest to me. When civilians ask me why i do what i do, why fight, my only thought is that they'll never understand, we don't fight for glory we fight for those men, who we've bonded with, spent countless hours with, and suffered with. I fight for them, for their wives, for their parents. My biggest fear is not my death, its the death of those whose parents and wives i'll have to see suffer. That's why i fight, that's what makes me a soldier, that's why i don't question why i go to war, I want you to know that i love you, and i well see you in a year from now. Love, Daniel

Freeman, 20, of Cincinnati, died April 6, 2005.

Army Spc. Justin W. Johnson
April 3, 2004

Yesterday we found a lot of bombs just outside our gate that they were going to use on us. Most of the time you do not find them until they blow up on you when you drive by.  We got lucky with this one! & I might be going on another mission today. I hope so, it is kinda fun.  We do not follow any traffic laws here. We make up our own. We even drive down the wrong side of the street if we have to so we don t have to stop because it is to dangerous. It is something I will never forget! Something to tell my grandkids about when I am old and gray. LOL. A long time from now. LOL. And I am happy because I got my combat patch now. That is something that DAD and Josh will not have.  Dad might outrank me but my Class As will look better with all my ribbons and patches! LOL. As soon as I get back to the states I am putting in for a transfer to another base that is not deploying to Iraq.  I will have 10 months left and I don't plan on coming back here again.

Johnson, 22, of Rome, Ga., died April 10, 2004.

Marine Cpl. Michael D. Anderson Jr.
Oct. 18, 2004

Hey dad, yesterday we had a 6 hour firefight in Fallujah. The best day of my life. I watched buildings disappear, shot ass loads of rounds, threw grenades. Well the day started we were stopping cars and searching them after about an hour of that we were heading back to camp baharia which is where I live, and there were a bunch of marines lying down on the side of the road and the other side of the road is Fallujah. The road has a bridge and train tracks heading into the city. So we stop to see what's up and we hear fire coming from the city and the HMV's up on the road are shooting the crap out of the city so everybody was like yeah let's get some. So me and Baker, Vandorn and Hannah sneak under the bridge across the train tracks ... and we see muzzle flashes and impacts on the bridge so we open up on them. 240s and 40mm grenades and of course M16s and SAWS. Well that goes on for a while finally we pin a few in one house we are about 100 to 150 meters away and they call for close air support. So an F16 and 18 drops a 500 pound bomb on this building, I felt the heat and concussion, it was the coolest thing I have ever experienced. When the smoke cleared there was nothing left. So we back out and are getting ready to leave when mortars are landing all around us and think they are coming from a couple nearby cement factories. So once again close air comes in. We drive over about 200 meters away on the left side and again they drop another 500 pound bomb and about 30 seconds after it hits they open the back door on the Amtrak and we come running out and assault the objectiv … the other cement factory is about 300 meters south of where we are so we load up and move in. We start closing in. We are about 75 to 80 meters away and next to the house is a red car. The F16 or 18 swoops in and lights this thing up, we drop to the ground. The tracers hit right in front of us and ricochet over us. So we move up to the house and I tell them to shoot through the windows so they light this place up. I hear screaming and yelling so I look down the line to see if it was a marine hit and no one was hit so I called a cease fire and the yelling was coming from the house so I grab two marines to come with me and we move to the front door and yell for them to come out. The first guy hobbles out is bleeding out of his head and leg and the other 4 are ok just really scared with their hands on their head. Our corpsman bandages up the guy that is bleeding all over the place. We search the house and find one AK47. We bent the crap out of it and left it. We call in objective secure and move back to the bridge. We went back to camp baharia. My ears were ringing so bad from shooting under the bridge cause it echoed under there. Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. Last week we were driving down the same road when we took a heavy volume of fire so we punched through. There was one guy pushing his car as it was getting shot. Talk about a bad day, his car broke down and having to push it and getting shot at. I am being put up for combat action cause if that's not combat I don't know what is. I shot so much ammo yesterday I don't know if I shot anybody but I know for sure they didn't live through the bomb that was dropped on 'em. It was like living in a war movie. I didn't' get tired, my ears didn't hurt during but after they did. Like I said it was like living a movie or a real life video game. I had the time of my life I wish every day was like yesterday. It is hard to put in words how it felt cause it felt so good my adrenaline was pumping. I always thought that fire fights were tiring, when it was over I was like, that's it? Six hours went by like 6 seconds. Well I gotta go I got some good missions coming up in the next few days so if anything happens I'll write about it and send it to you. Love, Mike Jr.

Anderson, 21, of Modesto, Calif., died Dec. 14, 2004.

Marine Lance Cpl. Edward (Augie) Schroeder
March 9, 2005

Well it took a while, but here we are at the Haditha Dam, in Haditha, Iraq. We will be running support and stability operations out of here.  Its kind of cool, i live in a dam.  There is a great view of the euphrates river from this thing.  It looks like something from a movie. We have an internet cafe/phone center, but e-mails/calls will be pretty far between (mostly because of the wait, I just waited 3 hours to get half an hour on this thing) and its slow! Food's ok, and i'm doing fine.

Schroeder, 23, of Cleveland, died Aug. 3, 2005.

Airman 1/c Elizabeth N. Jacobson