IRAQ: Personal tales of the fallen

March 23, 2008 10:07 PM PT

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U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class John W. Marshall was at the head of a convoy in Iraq when an RPG hit, killing him. The 50-year-old soldier had been a source of wisdom and strength for the men around him.

Capt. Patrick M. Rapicault, 34, was born French but fell in love with the U.S. and joined the Marines. In Iraq, he seemed fearless as he cleared the streets of Anbar province for convoys.

Marine Cpl. Nicholas P. Rapavi, 22, was about to finish his second tour of Iraq and was going to leave the Corps. He wanted to go to college and maybe become a doctor.

They were among the 4,000 U.S. service members killed since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003. Times staff writers share their memories of these and other fallen troops as another grim milestone is reached in the war.

Click here to read about them here.

— Alexandra Zavis in Baghdad

Babylon & Beyond

Alexandra Zavis

Alexandra Zavis is a former writer and editor on the Los Angeles Times’ Foreign Desk who has reported from more than 40 countries. She spent a decade with the Associated Press, covering Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other war-torn places. After joining The Times in 2006, she has served as a Baghdad correspondent and as a California reporter covering poverty and veterans issues. She is a recipient of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Award for distinguished reporting on foreign affairs and was part of teams of reporters awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for foreign correspondence and APME’s International Perspective Award. She is a graduate of Oxford University and City University in London.