Karbala, Iraq: A soldier salutes fallen comrades from Task Force 1-37, 1st Armored Division, while attending a memorial service for three people who were killed in Karbala. Colonel Peter Mansoor, commander of the 1st battalion, said that the army had not seen such intense combat since 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia, when two Black Hawks were shot down and 18 U.S. soldiers died.

The line of memorials—which is traditionally the Kevlar helmet mounted atop the soldier's rifle with dog tags and boots—is for (from left to right), SPC Philip Ian Spakowski, SGT Brud J. Cronkrite and 2LT Leonard Cowherd.

A day before he was killed, SPC Spakosky, known as Spanky, called his wife and two children. According to a friend, he was expecting his loved one to ask for a separation. In fact, she wanted to tell him she had just gotten a tattoo of his name.