Ohio Battalion Feels Iraq Sting
War's Toll Heavily Felt After 20 Marines Killed In One Week
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Play CBS Video Video Ohio Town Loses 20 Marines Twenty Marines, all from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, have been killed in Iraq this week. Byron Pitts reports from Brook Park, Ohio, where the unit is headquartered.
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Video Ohio Marines Killed Fourteen Marines from the same Ohio-based reserve unit that recently saw six other casualties were killed in Iraq. Sharyn Alfonsi reports on the surge in violence.
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Video Exit Strategy In Iraq The latest attacks in Iraq raise an obvious question: how is it that the military can talk about drawing down U.S. forces? David Martin reports.
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Michael and Jessica Davis wait while their grandmother, Marie Gallagher, places a flag at the fence outside the 25th Marine Regiment's 3rd Battalion in Brook Park, Ohio, Aug. 3, 2005. (AP)
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Dan Boskovitch reacts while talking about his nephew, Jeff Boskovitch, one of six Marines killed Monday in Iraq, as Jeff's step-mother listens in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Aug. 2, 2005. (AP)
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The 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter were trapped inside the 50,000-pound troop carrier and killed, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. The Marines were members of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in this Cleveland suburb, according to Gunnery Sgt. Brad R. Lauer, public affairs chief with the unit.
Nine of them were members of the battalion's Lima Company, situated in Columbus, said Master Sgt. Stephen Walter, a spokesman for the company.
The Company, which used to call itself "Lucky Lima," had already lost eleven servicemen since the beginning of the war, CBS News reports, including four members in one operation in May. All the company's members are from the Marine reserves.
All 14 new casualties were based in Brook Park, a blue-collar Cleveland suburb of 21,000, according to Gunnery Sgt. Brad R. Lauer, public affairs chief. The battalion was activated in January and went to Iraq in March.
CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts reports that one of the killed Marines, Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery, left a wife and baby boy who just celebrated his first birthday.
“He probably could have gotten out of going just because he has a newborn son,” said Paul Montgomery, Brian’s father. “But he said, ‘No, I have a job to do, I have a duty to do for my country.’ He said, ‘Don't worry, dad, I'll be back.’”
The family of one of the dead, Lance Cpl. Jeff Boskovitch, met in the driveway of his father's Cuyahoga Falls home late Tuesday evening to remember him, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal reported.
"He had the biggest heart in the world. He was just a great kid," his uncle, Dan Boskovitch, told the newspaper. He said his nephew, had aspirations of pursuing a career in law enforcement.
Boskovitch was one of the five Marines killed on Monday in the northwestern Iraqi town of Haditha.
"You never know who it could be. It could be your best friend. It could be your husband — it could be anyone from here," Eleanor Matelski, 69, said as she angrily tore up a paper cup that held her morning coffee at a doughnut shop down the street from the battalion's headquarters.
"Tell Bush to get our soldiers out of there now before any more of our soldiers die. This is getting to be ridiculous," she said.
At the doughnut shop, nearly everyone seated at the counter said they knew someone connected to the battalion. "Those boys come in here," said shop manager Pat Wilsox.
Wilsox threw her hand over her heart when she heard the news that the battalion had suffered more losses. "Oh my God," she said softly. "I'm all for protection but this is getting a little bit ridiculous."
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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