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thedrifter
08-02-07, 08:14 AM
Remembering the 325 Marine Battalion

Carole Sullivan
Created: 8/1/2007 5:27:54 PM
Updated:8/1/2007 7:42:51 PM

http://www.wkyc.com/assetpool/images/068317271_325th-marines-anniversary_2.jpg


BROOK PARK -- Two years later Marines struggle to find their place home.
This week two years ago 20 Marines stationed with the 325 Marine Battalion in Brook Park were killed in Iraq.

48 died during the reserves tour of duty.

Returning to civilian life after war isn't easy.

But the young Marines of the 325 are learning more lessons everyday.

Sgt. Stan Mayer remembers hearing the names of the soldiers killed during the battles of that terrible week in 2005. There they were, one after another, a name he knew, the name of a hometown man. The Brook Park unit was filled with Marines from the area.

Mayer's platoon was hit hardest on May 7th 2005. It's a day he says he will always remember. A day on which he makes calls to friends and recently to a wife of a buddy killed.

"I just got the guts to call my buddy's wife for the 1st time. 'Hey, I held this guy in my arms when he died. (she says) Who are you again?' It is an awkward conversation but it needs to be done."

"The families they left behind can not be forgotten," says Mayer.

While formal remembrances are not planned, Mayer says private ones are surely being held.

Ellie