IRAQ LOSSES MOUNT IN CLEVELAND AREA: Three Marine Reservists from Seven Hills, Willoughby and Tallmadge were among the Haditha casualties being mourned yesterday by crowds in Brook Park and Cleveland. Their deaths brought to sixteen the number of servicemen from Cuyahoga and surrounding counties killed so far in Iraq. Nine of those sixteen deaths have occurred since January. (See a new sidebar feature, "In memoriam", to the right.)

The Plain Dealer reported today from Brook Park:

...the sentiment seemed to be almost universal: Support the troops, but not the war.

Not far from the reserve headquarters, Joe and Diane Hamilton held a garage sale at their home on Sandfield Street. They said everyone who came through talked about the soldiers killed in Iraq, and all had the same opinion.

"It's time to bring them home," said Joe Hamilton, surrounded by used sweatshirts, books and bric-a-brac. "Everybody says so. How long are we going to stay over there and what's the point anyway?"

"We got Saddam, we toppled his government, now let's get our troops out of there before more die."

Northeast Ohio's most recent losses are Lance Corporal Brian Montgomery, 26, of Willoughby; Lance Corporal Daniel Deyarmin, 22, of Tallmadge; and Corporal Jeffrey Boskovitz, 25, of Seven Hills.

A total of 88 Ohioans have died on military duty in Iraq to date... 35 of them since the beginning of 2005. You can learn more about each of them at Faces of Valor (just type "Ohio" into the "Search DoD announcement" blank and click "Submit".)

P.S. More on Ohio's losses and personal memories of Lance Corporal Montgomery from ClevelandSteamer at Daily Kos. (Thanks, HS.)