JULY 1 CHRIS COFFIN RANK: First Sergeant * AGE 51 * Kennebunk, Maine
JULY 2 TRAVIS BRADACH-NALL RANK: Corporal * AGE 21 * Portland, Ore.
Lynn Bradach began noticing tattoos on her son Travis Bradach-Nall's body when he was 17, and she was not amused. When he returned home one day with yet another design on his back, she initially refused to look at it. But she relented, and saw a heart stretching from shoulder to shoulder with the word Mom written inside. Her son explained it was because she was always on his back. In 2000, after graduating from high school, Bradach-Nall surprised his mother again when he joined the Marines. His unit entered Iraq in March. In May Travis gave up a chance to return to the U.S. and volunteered to stay on. He was killed clearing mines near Karbala. Lynn Bradach now plans to get her own tattoo--a gold star like the one the military gave her in appreciation for her son's sacrifice. --Reported by Eli Sanders/Portland
JULY 3 COREY SMALL RANK: PFC * AGE 20 * East Berlin, Pa.
At the age of 20, Corey Small was already facing up to the responsibilities that come with being an adult. He had opened an account at his local bank and regularly deposited money for the college education of his son Jayden Klunk, 3. The third of eight children, Small saw his son every other weekend. But to further his own education and, he hoped, earn more money to support Jayden, Small enrolled in the Army in 2001. He and his wife Amanda, at right, were posted to Fort Polk, La., which meant that he would see a lot less of Jayden. Then in April of this year, Small was shipped off to Iraq. He was proud to serve his country and received word that he might be promoted while in the Persian Gulf. On July 3, he died from a gunshot in a noncombat incident that the Army says is under investigation. The East Berlin post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has helped set up a trust fund for Jayden, and donations are pouring in. --Reported by Amanda Bower
JULY 3 JIM HERRGOTT RANK: PFC * AGE 20 * Shakopee, Minn.
Edward (Jim) Herrgott was not an ideal student. In high school, he would skip class sometimes and rarely did his homework. But he was good-natured and kind, so his parents never worried. And Herrgott did owe some gratitude to the classroom: he met his future fiance Sara McWilliams, with him at right, at summer school. Given his penchant for mischief, Herrgott surprised his family when he announced in his senior year that he wanted to be a police officer. To earn money for his training, he joined the Army, just as his cousin T.J. Kewatt had done a year earlier. As kids the two had spent hours playing with G.I. Joe dolls. In Iraq since May, Herrgott loved driving tanks. He was in a Bradley fighting vehicle guarding the Baghdad museum when he was shot by a sniper. Kewatt, also in Iraq, accompanied his cousin's body home. --Reported by Sarah Sturmon Dale/Minneapolis
JULY 6 JEFFREY WERSHOW RANK: Specialist * AGE 22 * Gainesville, Fla.