7 Days 7 Deaths

By Michelle Orecklin

JULY 1 CHRIS COFFIN RANK: First Sergeant * AGE 51 * Kennebunk, Maine

JULY 2 TRAVIS BRADACH-NALL RANK: Corporal * AGE 21 * Portland, Ore.

Lynn Bradach began noticing tattoos on her son Travis Bradach-Nall's body when he was 17, and she was not amused. When he returned home one day with yet another design on his back, she initially refused to look at it. But she relented, and saw a heart stretching from shoulder to shoulder with the word Mom written inside. Her son explained it was because she was always on his back. In 2000, after graduating from high school, Bradach-Nall surprised his mother again when he joined the Marines. His unit entered Iraq in March. In May Travis gave up a chance to return to the U.S. and volunteered to stay on. He was killed clearing mines near Karbala. Lynn Bradach now plans to get her own tattoo--a gold star like the one the military gave her in appreciation for her son's sacrifice. --Reported by Eli Sanders/Portland

JULY 3 COREY SMALL RANK: PFC * AGE 20 * East Berlin, Pa.

At the age of 20, Corey Small was already facing up to the responsibilities that come with being an adult. He had opened an account at his local bank and regularly deposited money for the college education of his son Jayden Klunk, 3. The third of eight children, Small saw his son every other weekend. But to further his own education and, he hoped, earn more money to support Jayden, Small enrolled in the Army in 2001. He and his wife Amanda, at right, were posted to Fort Polk, La., which meant that he would see a lot less of Jayden. Then in April of this year, Small was shipped off to Iraq. He was proud to serve his country and received word that he might be promoted while in the Persian Gulf. On July 3, he died from a gunshot in a noncombat incident that the Army says is under investigation. The East Berlin post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has helped set up a trust fund for Jayden, and donations are pouring in. --Reported by Amanda Bower

JULY 3 JIM HERRGOTT RANK: PFC * AGE 20 * Shakopee, Minn.

Edward (Jim) Herrgott was not an ideal student. In high school, he would skip class sometimes and rarely did his homework. But he was good-natured and kind, so his parents never worried. And Herrgott did owe some gratitude to the classroom: he met his future fiance Sara McWilliams, with him at right, at summer school. Given his penchant for mischief, Herrgott surprised his family when he announced in his senior year that he wanted to be a police officer. To earn money for his training, he joined the Army, just as his cousin T.J. Kewatt had done a year earlier. As kids the two had spent hours playing with G.I. Joe dolls. In Iraq since May, Herrgott loved driving tanks. He was in a Bradley fighting vehicle guarding the Baghdad museum when he was shot by a sniper. Kewatt, also in Iraq, accompanied his cousin's body home. --Reported by Sarah Sturmon Dale/Minneapolis

JULY 6 JEFFREY WERSHOW RANK: Specialist * AGE 22 * Gainesville, Fla.

Jeffrey Wershow consumed book after book about epic wars and battle strategies. His interest was more than academic. Wershow's prep school had no ROTC program, so he participated in one through a local public school. In 1999, after graduating from high school, he joined the Army. He told his mother Anne Marie Mattison, left, and his father Jon Wershow, a former county commissioner, that he would serve a tour as an enlisted man, then go to college and officer-candidate school. Jeffrey believed the experience would later earn him more respect from the troops. After a three-year stint at Fort Bragg, N.C., he joined the Florida National Guard and attended Santa Fe Community College. He was also active in politics and helped run the successful re-election campaign of county commissioner Cynthia Chestnut. In December Jeffrey's unit was called up for duty. Wershow was shot while guarding U.S. officials attending a meeting at the University of Baghdad. --Reported by Broward Liston/Gainesville

JULY 6 DAVID PARSON RANK: Sergeant * AGE 30 * Kannapolis, N.C.

When David Parson was deployed to Iraq in May, "we were devastated and scared and didn't want him to go," says his sister Donna Gentry. Parson, a consistent source of strength and dependability for his family, assured them he would be fine. Parson had enlisted in the military in 1994--initially as a Marine--because he wanted to see the world. But when his father died in 1998, Parson left the Marines and returned to Kannapolis to help out his mother and sister. Civilian life didn't agree with him, however, and he eventually joined the Army. In February he was posted to Friedberg, Germany, and took along his wife Mary Elizabeth and their three children. But while conducting a raid on a house in Baghdad, Parson, a trained sniper, was shot and killed. He had been scheduled for a promotion to staff sergeant in August, and his family has been told it will be awarded posthumously. --Reported by Constance E. Richards/Kannapolis

JULY 7 CHAD KEITH RANK: Specialist * AGE 21* Albion, Pa.

There was never any question about what Chad Keith would do when he grew up. As a child, "he collected every G.I. Joe on the market," says his grandfather Charles Northrop. Keith's interest in the military was not hard to fathom: at least six close relatives had served. During his senior year of high school, he enlisted in the Army's delayed-entry program, and though he had never took part in track before, he joined the team, a move his coach now suspects was partly to help him prepare for basic training. After graduating from high school in 2000, Keith went straight into the Army and was assigned to Fort Bragg. When he wasn't training, he could often be found at the local toy store playing with kids in the aisles. In Iraq, similarly, he told his family he enjoyed handing out candy to children. His ability to charm crowds would have served him well in his other big ambition: to become U.S. President. (His niece Tasia, 3, called him Uncle America.) Keith was killed when a roadside bomb exploded while he was on patrol in Baghdad. He had requested to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. --Reported by Matt Baron/Batesville, Indiana

With reporting by Eli Sanders/Portland; Amanda Bower; Sarah Sturmon Dale/Minneapolis; Broward Liston/Gainesville; Constance E. Richards/Kannapolis; Matt Baron/Batesville, Indiana