Cleveland — On the stage sat a helmet, a pair of worn soldier's boots and a folded American flag. In the audience were thousands who turned out Monday night to honor 16 fallen Marines and their hard-hit Ohio battalion.
"Our own band of brothers," Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones said during an hour-long memorial service of prayers, bagpipes intoning "Amazing Grace" and montages of the troops from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines who died in the past two weeks in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Kevin Rush thanked the audience in Cleveland's International Exposition Center for its support on behalf of the battalion.
"These Marines have been giving their all and sadly some of them made the ultimate sacrifice," Rush said. "While it is fitting for a moment of silence, I believe a round of applause for all of our fighting forces is a little more appropriate."
Thousands stood, clapped and cheered for several seconds before the lights went dark and the names and photos of the fallen Marines were flashed on a screen while classical music played. Many of the Marines' relatives were moved to tears.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, an anti-war Democrat, said there may be disagreement about the war's mission, but that support for the troops is strong.
"Their lives were sacred, their commitment to our country sacred," said Kucinich, who organized the memorial with Mayor Mark Elliott.
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