Where U.S. Iraq Deaths Hit Hardest

(CBS)  Now that the grim milestone of 2,000 American military deaths in Iraq has been reached, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin took time to reflect on their continuing impact at home.

He

visited (video)

tiny Ellaville, Ga., which just lost one of its favorite sons in Iraq.

"It looks like a Fourth of July parade in small-town America," Martin said, "but then, the funeral procession comes down Main Street."

"We're all here this morning to honor Victor. He paid the ultimate price for all of us," Ellaville resident Faye Mathews told Martin.

Sgt. Victor Anderson, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, hailed from Ellaville.

He was a deputy sheriff and family man, Martin said, and, "Everybody from the mayor on down knew him."

"You know it hits us hard because, with a small population, it means more to you," Ellaville Mayor Hugh Turner said.

One-quarter of the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are from rural America, according to the most recent statistics, even though only one-fifth of the military-aged population lives there.

In other words, Martin said, "small-town America is suffering more than its fair share of sacrifice and, when death comes to a small town like Ellaville, everybody feels it."

Many people — from the school where Anderson's son is a student, the factories along the funeral route, the sheriff's department where he worked — turned out to pay their respects.

"It was most overwhelming," Sheriff Pete Smith of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said tearfully. "I've never seen that many people turn out to show their patriotism and their love and respect for a fallen officer."

In Ellaville's part of Georgia, Martin said, it was the biggest story of the day. And for Anderson's widow, it was the end of life as she had come to know it.

"You always think it won't be you," Ellen Anderson said. "I couldn't catch my breath. It's like somebody just tears your heart out."

But on the day of the funeral, there was comfort for Ellen in seeing the roadside lined with mourners: "It was overwhelming to know that so many people cared for us the way they did."

"It looked like the whole town of Ellaville turned out for that funeral," Martin said.

"They did," Ellen responded.

She moved to Ellaville when she married Victor, and she plans to stay on without him.

"It's nice when people tell you, 'Hey.' Greet you at the grocery store. See them at church," Ellen said.

Tyler Anderson plays on the team his dad used to coach. Now, his mom comes to practice. And on game day, every player will wear Victor Anderson's initials on his jersey.

In a nation of nearly 300 million people, Martin said, 2,000 dead may seem like a small number — but not in Ellaville.

Two thousand is the entire population of Victor Anderson's hometown.