Erv Hodges has been wearing civilian clothes for three decades now, but don't let that fool you: He's still a Marine.
"You're not a former Marine - you're just not on active duty," said Hodges, a former Lawrence mayor who served in the corps for 23 years, ending in 1971.
That ongoing sense of camaraderie has made this week painful for retired Marines in Lawrence. Twenty marines died in Iraq - 14 when their armored vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb, six others during a small-arms battle. All were members of the same Ohio-based reserve battalion.
"This week was a little harder than the other ones," said Marty Kennedy, another former Lawrence mayor who served with the Marines in Vietnam. "You stop and say a silent prayer and wish their families the best."
Don Martin of Lawrence served with the Marines in Korea.
"It hurts," he said of the week's deaths. "You hate to see all those young fellas take that kind of beating. I was in Korea, and we lost a lot of good lives there, also. As long as we're fighting for the freedom that we enjoy, you have to take the bad with the good."
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Martin and Kennedy agreed with Hodges that Marine Corps bonds run deep, even years after service has ended. During his service on the Lawrence City Commission, Kennedy would occasionally greet a fellow alum with "Semper Fi," the Corps' motto.
"Once a Marine, you're always a Marine, and you have fond feelings for the men who are in harm's way," Kennedy said Friday.
Hodges said the week's incidents will remind active-duty Marines to be alert at all times.
"What can you say about those explosive devices?" Hodges said. "We had a saying in Vietnam: 'You never drive over a pothole.'"
Hodges added: "Unfortunately, this is a combat situation, and frontlines do not exist."
But Hodges said he expected the Marine Corps to quickly recover from the week's brutality.
"They'll come back," Hodges said. "I'd hate to be on the other end. I think the safest place in the world is with a platoon of Marines around you."
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