QUOTE
14 Marine reservists from the Cleveland area were killed in the first week of August by a roadside bomb -- one of the heaviest blows suffered by a single unit in the war. Two days earlier, six others from the battalion were killed while on sniper duty. AP
For 20 Ohio Marines
[A Tribute from Butler, Pa.]
Did you feel the wave of sympathy
surging across the Pennsylvania line
and out to you,
the families left behind?
We know.
For we saw your boys
here among ours,
in our streets jogging,
in cars, in shopping malls,
in our churches, at picnics,
and High School proms,
and not too long ago
on the Fourth
as lads on Main Street
watching soldiers pass,
and even then they straightened
when the flag unfurled.
We saw them at gates
embracing parents
wives and families,
grandparents too
and friends who couldn't let go—
turning then to leave
with head held high,
yet looking back
at the ramp,
one last time.
Twenty, they reported, had fallen—
snatched from us, from us now so far.
We weep with you.
For yours are ours.
.