Marine Staff Sgt. William M. Harrell

Died April 08, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

30, of Placentia, Calif.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; killed April 8 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq.

Staff Sgt. William M. Harrell was remembered as being widely loved. "He seemed to leave a piece of himself with everyone he knew," said his wife, Kelli Harrell. Harrell, 30, of Placentia, Calif., was killed April 7 in Iraq’s Anbar province. He was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. "He wasn't going to leave until it was cleaned up," she said. Kelli Harrell broke the news of his death to their son, Austin, 7, an hour after military officials came to their home. "'If he just got shot, can't they help him?'" she recalled her son asking. "Daddy can't be helped right now. Daddy's with God," she replied.

— Associated Press