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thedrifter
12-19-08, 07:42 AM
FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2008 Last modified: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:54 PM PST

2/7 remembers its fallen

By Kurt Schauppner / The Desert Trail

MCAGCC — The 20 Mar-ines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment who died while serving in Afghan-istan were memorialized with words of praise and Marine Corps ritual on an overcast day Friday, Dec. 12 at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.

With families of the fallen in attendance, the 20 were memorialized at a ceremony held at Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray Field, which was named for a Marine who gave his life in Iraq.

In his invocation, Chaplain Russell Hale asked God to comfort those in grief. With family and fellow Marines and sailors looking on, the ceremony saw creation of the Soldier’s Cross, with the placement of a rifle, boots and photo for each fallen warrior.

At the same time, surviving family members were presented with bouquets of flowers and American flags.

“We know it took great strength and courage for you to be here today to give honor and respect to our fallen sons,” Lt. Col. Richard Hall, 2/7’s commanding officer, told family members during his remarks. “Mere words cannot do justice to a man’s life. “These were America’s best warriors.”

After the ceremony, Hall said, family members would have a chance to talk with other members of the battalion and share stories about their lost loved ones, “not how each man died but how each man lived.

“These are our country’s true heroes,” he said. “I have consolation in knowing they did not die in vain. Their efforts will prevail.”

Those who killed them, he said, will be brought to justice.

“Many of these workers of evil have already had justice brought to them,” he said.

“God can be trusted even when life seems its darkest,” he said. “Some of you may be angry at God but I want you to know that God understands. These sailors, these Marines, were good men.”

The ceremony included the playing of “Amazing Grace,” on the bagpipes by Maj. Sean Smith and a roll call of the

fallen in which each name was called out three times before a set of dog tags was placed on each man’s Soldier’s Cross.

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Hall noted that the battalion's mission in Afghanistan began as training and mentoring for members of the Afghanistan National Police but evolved more into counter-insergency efforts.

The majority of those memorialized, he said, were killed by improvised explosive devices.

Hall praised family members of the fallen Marines and sailors.

“You see that indomitable spirit,” he said. “They have suffered a terrible loss and yet they keep giving back to us.

“We hit the peak of the fighting season,” he said of the battalion's time in Afghan-istan, which begin in the spring. “We were in a very contentious area.”

Ellie