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A portrait of who they were
Between March 20, 2003 and May 6, 2004, 759 US troops died in Iraq. This is the longest, fiercest, sustained combat Americans have seen in a generation.
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Friends remember him as quiet and generous - the kind of dad who would take all the kids in his working-class neighborhood out for ice cream.
"Joey was a sweetheart," fellow police officer Scott Morton told the Monitor. "It was kind of scary how much of a nice guy he was, you know?"
Joey Camara was also a member of the Rhode Island National Guard, called to active duty. When his Humvee was blown up late last year, friends and colleagues around this historic whaling town immediately set up a fund to help Ana Camara and their three children.
Then Mr. Morton organized a benefit hockey game in which former players for the Boston Bruins faced off against a team of New Bedford police and firefighters.
"They killed us in the beginning, but then they kind of let us catch up," remembers another officer.
Final score: 12-8. The rink was packed with 1,200 people, and several thousand dollars was raised for the Camara family.
The community intends to keep helping. "If she starts having financial difficulty, we're going to step right in," says Officer Morton. "We may set up a scholarship fund in his name. We'll attach Joey's name to it, because that's the kind of guy he was."
The ripples continue.
It's impossible to know for sure how many children, stepchildren, nephews, nieces, and other young people will no longer have those lost ones to look up to, to learn from.
Each one lost is important; together their influence has been - would have been - considerable.
Marine Pfc. Eric Ayon had been a youth counselor working with gang members. Just before he died in a firefight in Al Anbar Province last month, he sent his 7- year-old son Joshua a birthday card.
"Being your dad is the coolest thing I've ever done in my life," he wrote. "You being my son makes me a better man."
"I'm sorry I'm not there with you today," Private Ayon wrote to his son. "I love you and I will always be around."
The Pentagon sent out another press release the other day, as it does just about every day.
Like the others, it was terse:
"The Department of Defense announced today the death of five sailors who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died May 2 in the Al Anbar Province as a result of hostile fire. They were assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14, Jacksonville, Fla.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael C. Anderson, 36, of Daytona, Fla.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Trace W. Dossett, 37, of Orlando, Fla.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott R. Mchugh, 33, of Boca Raton Fla.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert B. Jenkins, 35, of Stuart, Fla.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald A. Ginther, 37, of Auburndale, Fla."
• Leigh Montgomery and Alan Messmer of the library staff contributed to this report.
The Monitor's analysis of US military casualties drew from information compiled by the Associated Press War Casualty Database, US Department of Defense and its armed forces divisions, the US Census Bureau, Lunaville.org, and Women in Military Service for America Memorial. It includes the 759 troops who died in Iraq from March 20, 2003, to May 6, 2004.
