Stories of The Fallen

It was an unremarkable August day last year when two sergeants came knocking at Charlie and Leigh Nurre's door in Wilton.

Coming home from Iraq and getting another chance to hold his wife and young children -- that's all Sgt. Thomas B. Turner Jr. wanted to do.

Not forgotten: Army Sgt. Isaac Lawson of Elk Grove was not driving alone when he was killed by a bomb June 5 in Iraq, as reported here Monday. Sgt. Lawson was in a truck with Sgt. Arne Eastlund of Orangevale.

Originally published on 06/12/06

Originally published on 06/08/06

Originally published on 04/06/06

This San Joaquin County city etches the names of its war dead on the smooth, marble surface of a memorial downtown. The list of those who've died in nearly three years of fighting in Iraq is quickly approaching the number of those who died in World War I, Korea and Vietnam.

The day before his unit left for Iraq last June, 34-year-old Sgt. Brian Dunlap posted an open letter to his friends and family on his blog. He loved the Marines, he loved America and he loved them.

Originally published on 10/01/05

The players didn't have to know Strain, although several did, to understand their community was in mourning. They knew their coach, Dave Humphers, was especially heartbroken.

More than 300 friends and family members attended Nurre's funeral at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, where a military honor guard performed a 21-gun salute and Army Reserve officers served as pallbearers.

A Sacramento caravan billed as the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" Tour arrived here Saturday, launching a raucous day of rallies and counter-rallies just a few miles outside President Bush's ranch, each side claiming to represent the interests of the American men and women battling in Iraq.

Just a month ago, Sheehan, the Vacaville mother of a soldier slain in Iraq, began a lonely, anguished vigil under the blazing Texas sun, encamped in a tent, estranged from her husband and largely ignored by the world.

Families, friends and former teammates are mourning two Sacramento area soldiers who died on the same day a world away - one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

They lined up on opposite sides of the street in Sacramento on Monday - just like they've been doing in Crawford, Texas, for more than two weeks.

Marine Lance Cpl. Adam J. Strain was eulogized Saturday on the same athletic field where he played high school football just two years ago.

Originally published on 08/06/05

Making Iraq a better place was a top priority for Sgt. Arnold Duplantier II of the California Army National Guard. He lamented that he couldn't finish the job.

Back patrolling the streets of Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon, Duplantier was shot and killed by a sniper, according to the California National Guard. He is the 12th California National Guard soldier to die in Iraq and the first from Sacramento.

Whether wearing his military gear or his soccer referee uniform, Citrus Heights Marine Michael S. Barnhill commanded respect.

Eight days ago, Army Sgt. Timothy Craig Kiser of Redding was counting his blessings.

A year after her death, her mother recalls a daughter who grew from a teen looking for more structure in her life into a "soldier's soldier."

Staff Sgt. Joseph Stevens was scheduled to leave Iraq in mid-February.

The staff sergeant died with four others when vehicle flipped into an Iraqi canal.

In the final, frenzied days before Tuesday's presidential election, the airwaves are littered with noisy ads and political yackety-yak aimed at getting our vote. But it is Sheehan's appearance in a national ad campaign that grabs the gut with its raw and searing message.

The man who recruited Pvt. David Lawrence Waters of Auburn for the U.S. Army can still hear the words the teenager said to him when he enlisted.

When he did return 13 months ago, it was under the saddest of circumstances: His mother had been killed, her body found behind some bushes in Auburn.

McCaffrey has joined Vacaville resident Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in April, and others in the ad campaign organized by a new political action committee called RealVoices.org.

Staff Sgt. Guy Stanley Hagy Jr. spoke with his wife via Web camera from Baghdad on Sunday, his aunt from Cool said.

In the Glenn County town of Orland, they know Sgt. Harvey Emmett Parkerson III won't be coming home. They don't know exactly how or why he died. But for family and friends, the circumstances don't really matter.

Originally published on 08/15/04

Silence is the only thing left for Nadia McCaffrey to fear.

Department of Defense officials announced that Army Spc. William River Emanuel IV, a 19-year-old Army infantryman from Stockton, was killed July 8 during a mortar attack on military headquarters in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

Manny Martinez now knows why his son started to say something the last time he called from Iraq, but then insisted it was nothing.

Originally published on 06/27/04

Chou Vue's father and brother were killed in Laos as they fought for the U.S. government during the Vietnam War.

Originally published on 04/24/04

If people remember only one thing about Staff Sgt. Jimmy J. Arroyave, remember that he lived and died a proud Marine.