MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Four Pendleton Marines who recently gave their lives securing Iraq's freedom were saluted one last time in two somber, tearful memorial services Friday at Marine Memorial Chapel.
More than 500 friends, family members and co-workers turned out. A few offered their memories of the fallen warriors:
One bore the weight of other's burdens. Another was a prototype family man.
A third was looking forward to civilian life and starting a family with his high-school sweetheart when the nation's call put his plans on hold.
Another, an infantryman, 1st Lt. Therrel Shane Childers, couldn't have found a nobler way to die, according to a fellow officer and friend.
More than 400 mourners - including Gov. Gray Davis - packed pews and lined walls in the first service, which remembered three local aviators who gave their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Capt. Aaron J. Contreras, Sgt. Michael V. Lalush and Sgt. Brian D. McGinnis, all members of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, died March 30 in a UH-1N Huey helicopter crash in southern Iraq.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. Military officials say it did not result from enemy fire; they've released no other details.
Scattered mourners wept softly during the service. A few offered a consoling arm around a shoulder. Many hung their heads. Others sat motionless and stared as though revisiting a memory.
"We gathered here to share our grief and honor those lost," said Lt. Col. Daniel C. Hahne, acting commanding officer of MAG-39.
"These Marines are to be remembered as true professionals and true heroes," he said.
Contreras, 31, piloted the helicopter. A native of Sherwood, Ore., he joined the Marine Corps in April 1997. Contreras is survived by his wife, Janelle, and three children. He had been with the squadron since November 2000.
"Family was very important to Aaron. He knew how to squeeze every drop out of time with his family and friends," said Contreras' brother, Tom.
Lalush, 23, a crew chief from Troutville, Va., joined the Marine Corps in June 1996. He had been with the squadron since February 1998. A co-worker remembers him as one who carried others' loads.
"He would (do it) not for recognition, but because he didn't know any other way," said the man, whose name was withheld.
McGinnis, also 23, might be out of the Marine Corps now if the invasion of Iraq hadn't happened.
Instead, the Pentagon delayed his March exit and sent him to Iraq as part of its "stop-loss" policy halting discharges.
McGinnis, a St. George, Del., native who joined the Marine Corps in May 1998, planned to start a family with his high-school sweetheart upon leaving the Corps, said his mother, Mildred C. Williams.
"He wanted to get a job and do it right," Williams said of her son, who joined the Corps in May 1998.
"I couldn't be more proud of Brian," McGinnis' wife, Megan, wrote in an e-mail to the base public affairs office. "He is truly a real-life hero. His bravery is an example to all of us."
Childers, who died leading his platoon's infantry charge in southern Iraq, was memorialized in an afternoon service that drew more than 100 people.
"There is no better way for an infantry officer to go than leading his men into adversity for a just cause," said Maj. Mark D. Mackey, who served with Childers.
Mackey, operations officer with Weapons and Field Training Battalion here, was among about 100 mourners who turned out to remember Childers. Mackey previously served with Childers at 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
"He was a person that truly embodied the values - honor, courage and commitment," Mackey said.
Childers, 30, was killed March 21 while leading 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1/5, in an assault on a pump station in southern Iraq. He died a second lieutenant but was posthumously promoted.
Jenny Sokol remembered her friend as a Marine who "loved the Corps as much as he loved life."
Childers enlisted in the Marine Corps in July 1990. He received a commission in June 2001.
"We're proud of him," his mother, Judy Childers, said from her home in Powell, Wyo. ÒHe died doing what he believed in."
"He gave up the rest of his days so we could live out the rest of ours in freedom," said Davis, decorated for combat service during the Vietnam War. During the ceremony, he presented an American flag that flew over the state capitol to Childers' family.