Community Corner

The Iraq War: Local Residents Who Gave The Ultimate Sacrifice

Ten years after the start of the war, a look at those area service members who died in combat.

The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began 10 years ago this week — on March 19, 2003 — and although officially "over," fighting continues with discouraging persistence.

By one count, the war is directly responsible for 189,000 deaths, not including those who died from hardship caused by the fighting.

CNN has a map of all casualties in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

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In all, 4,802 Americans and allies have died in the war, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, including 196 New Yorkers.

Among them, four residents from local communities, according to the CNN war casualties web site:

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Spc. Jacob Samuel Fletcher, 21, of Bay Shore; one of two soldiers killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their bus in Samarra, Iraq, on November 13, 2003.

Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore; one of three soldiers killed when their military convoy was ambushed by insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades north of Hawd in northern Iraq on July 24, 2003.

Spc. Matthew Edward Baylis, 21, of Oakdale; died May 31, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his dismounted patrol encountered enemy small-arms fire on May 30.

Cpl. Robert Christopher Pope II, 22, of East Islip; One of four soldiers killed when a suicide car bomb exploded near their dismounted patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, on November 7, 2005.

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