KANE'OHE BAY — Marine Corps Base Hawai'i yesterday honored 23 fallen troops who served in Iraq in this latest deployment from September to April with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, the "Island Warriors."

The service was particularly moving as more than 120 family members joined about 1,000 Marines and Navy personnel on the flight line to say their goodbyes at a service steeped in ritual and overflowing in emotions.

With the Ko'olau Range shrouded in mist as a backdrop, five companies of Marines lined the runway in formation. A sea of tan cammies with sleeves rolled to exact length contrasted with the blue of Kane'ohe Bay. Colorful state flags that were grouped around the parade ground whipped briskly in the wind. And CH-53 D Super Stallion helicopters, seven-ton trucks and Humvees surrounded the scene, completing the stage for the event made more solemn by an overcast sky.

The red flags of a three-star general and a one-star general stood at the entrance to a large white tent where the families, dignitaries and friends sat for the ceremony. Each side of the 10 bleachers were filled with the Marines' extended "family." More troops and Navy personnel stood in formation on each side of the bleachers.

In front of the tent and on both sides were 23 platforms covered in camouflage, with each manned by three Marines.

After a prayer, the presentation of the Colors and the National Anthem by the Marine Corps Forces Pacific Band, the name of each fallen soldier was called out in a Final Roll Call. As each name was read, a rifle, bayonet down, was stuck into the platform. A helmet was placed on the butt of the rifle and dog tags were hung. Finally, boots were set in front, all of which symbolize the laying to rest of a fallen Marine.

As the names were read over the public address system, tears began to flow.

A glitch in the public address system that cut sound to the audience didn't mar the occasion as Sgt. Major Patrick Wilkinson cast his voice into the crowd of thousands, making each name, rank and position of the fallen hero heard by everyone at the open-air event.

In saluting the fallen men, battalion commander Lt. Col. James Donnellan said their role in turning the tide in Hadigha will be a permanent part of the Island Warrior legacy and will live in the hearts of the Iraqi people that they helped.

When the 2/3 arrived in Iraq in an area called the Triad that included Hadigha and several other cities and villages in September, the area had recently exploded in violence, Donnellan said. Nine police officers had been brutally murdered, there was no government or reconstruction projects, and leaders were in hiding. Some 80,000 people were there, and the battalion of 1,000 was sent to protect them.

"In the first 90 days, they beat back the enemy from attacks that averaged 13 a day to less than one a day," Donnellan said. "Our engineers built a berm around the city to help control access; children have returned to schools and play in the street."

The cities have food and water and the people wave to troops on patrol, he said.

"Your husbands and sons were ambassadors, police, advisers and, overall, Marines," Donnellan said. "They made a difference in the lives of thousands of Iraqi citizens and made America safer in the process. ... The average Iraqi no longer believes America is evil because they have seen the kindness of your sons and husbands on the streets."

Harry Chaires, father of Lance Cpl. Daniel Chaires, said his son had wanted to be a Marine since he was 8 years old.

"I walk around our little farm and everywhere I look, there's a chinning bar that was put up in a tree or the barn where he was preparing himself to go to Parris Island so he could be the best Marine," said Chaires, from Tallahassee, Fla.

Chaires is not happy about how the American public is reacting to the war and sees much of what's airing on television as not supportive. He called for everyone to feel what the parents of these dead Marines are feeling and voice their support.

"I'd like to see our Congress stop openly bickering and knuckle down and get as brave as our young men and women are and do what has to be done to help end the war and give them the support they need," he said.

Erica Booth said her husband, 1st Lt J.L. Booth, also had always wanted to be a Marine.

"He was a loving father, good husband and a devoted Marine," Booth said.

Lt. Booth, who was killed one month after arriving in Iraq, leaves behind parents and two young children, 20-month-old Grace and 3-month-old Tristan, who never saw his father.

Booth said she had not been able to talk much to her husband from Iraq before he died but that he did have good things to say about the country.

"He said the people there were very grateful for what they were doing and he said it was surprisingly beautiful there," she said.

Several wounded Marines also attended, including Lance Cpl. Derrick Sharpe, 19, who traveled from Washington, D.C., where he is recuperating from injuries he received in Iraq while serving with the 2/3. He had lost a leg from a roadside bomb just a week before his good friend, Pfc. Christopher Riviere, who was one of the men honored yesterday, was killed.

Sharpe was in a wheelchair and was greeted by many of his company mates. He spent a moment in silent reflection in front of Riviere's boots before greeting his parents.

"We went in there to win their hearts and minds, and we accomplished that much," Sharpe said, adding that losing his friend was difficult. "When you lose any Marine, whether you know him or not, a piece of you goes with them."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.