Camp Pendleton Marine regiment bids farewell to its 100 dead

THOMAS WATKINS

Associated Press

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Two weeks after returning from a yearlong deployment to a joyous midnight homecoming, Marines from Regimental Combat Team 5 gathered under the California sun Thursday to remember their 100 comrades killed in Iraq.

"They did not die alone," said the regiment's commanding officer, Col. Larry Nicholson. "They were surrounded by their brothers."

The dead included 40 lance corporals, 24 corporals, 18 sergeants, a handful of privates and four officers, as well as seven soldiers and two Navy corpsmen. The main cause of death was from improvised explosive devices, followed by sniper and small-arms fire.

Even as lawmakers debated the merits of U.S. involvement in Iraq, the colonel told about 350 assembled Marines and 50 or so civilians that the Marines died for a good cause.

"Iraq is a better and safer place because of the services and sacrifices made by the regimental combat team," Nicholson said. "Future generations will marvel at the courage and sacrifice borne by Marines today."

The regiment was based in Fallujah and patrolled much of Al Anbar province. Nicholson said the main focus was on training Iraqi security forces, as well as carrying out patrols. The death toll was not especially high for a Marine regiment, considering 11,000 troops served with it over the year, Nicholson said.

The name of each troop killed in action was read aloud, accompanied by one chime on a ceremonial bell. Their dog tags were placed on one of 13 upended M-16s, each weapon representing a battalion that suffered fatalities.

The regiment is based at Camp Pendleton, but the men that served with it came from 17 battalions across the country, including one Army battalion. About 400 from the regiment were wounded, ranging from concussions to traumatic amputations.

Lance Cpl. Richard Allen Buerstetta, 20, of Franklin, Tenn., had been in Iraq one month when he was killed in a roadside explosion in Fallujah. His parents got the news the same day.

"The Marines came that night at about 8 o'clock and I slammed the door in their face," said mother Madeline Buerstetta, 53, who remembered her son as an athletic young man who trained hard to be a Marine and built an obstacle course in his yard. "I got my husband to talk to them."

Madeline Buerstetta said she was angry the House of Representatives is debating the merits of sending more Marines to Iraq. "They shouldn't be handcuffed, they have to be able to do what they do," she said.

It took more than 20 minutes for all the names of the dead to be read aloud. By the end, dog tags had collected in thick piles on some of machine guns, clanging gently as a warm wind kicked up. The service concluded with a seven-rifle salute.

Lance Cpl. Lucas Bell, 22, Altamont, Ill., was on patrol in Fallujah when a sniper shot him in the thigh. Bell survived an ensuing firefight, but fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Brent Beeler, of Jackson, Mich., did not.

"He was a good friend for as long as I knew him," Bell said. "He was a good old country boy."

Sgt. Damien Bertolo, 22, said it was the death of a captain he knew that brought home the reality of being at war.

"When you train, you know you are going to lose somebody," said Bertolo, of Woodbridge, Va. "But when it happens to someone you know, it's a little different."

Nicholson said services like this were important. Each battalion would have its own memorial, but this was the only chance remember all of the regiment's fallen.

"They are part of us always, this is their homecoming," he said.

K'Ann Hines, 51, of Ventura, lost her son, reservist Lance Cpl. Joshua Hines, on Oct. 15 when an improvised explosive device blew up, still the main killer among U.S. forces in Iraq. She said she agreed with Nicholson's comments that Iraq is a better place now.

"The people there are happy we have done this," Hines said. She said her son should be remembered by his smile. He was 22.