Army's 3rd Infantry Division Remembers 34 Fallen Comrades

FORT STEWART, Ga. – Six died when their Black Hawk (search) helicopter came under fire and crashed in Iraq. Four were killed by a suicide-bombing taxi driver. One was shot by fellow U.S. soldiers who mistook him for an enemy.

In all, 34 soldiers of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division (search) were killed in Iraq -- more casualties than any other U.S. military division.

On Wednesday, family and friends of the fallen soldiers gathered at an outdoor memorial at their home base in Georgia.

"I would have quit my job to be here," said Leslie Sanders, the mother of Spc. Gregory P. Sanders, who was fatally shot by a sniper March 24. His mother traveled from Hobart, Ind., to Georgia with her mother and sister. "Just seeing the respect the country's showing all our soldiers, I wouldn't miss being here."

Absent from the ceremony were the 3rd Infantry troops who fought alongside those killed in action. Those soldiers remain in Iraq (search), and aren't expected to return for two to three months.

After the ceremony, families of the soldiers strolled from a packed row of bleachers to the risers bearing their loved ones' effects, straightening their helmets and running fingers over their dog tags.

Then they strolled among a newly planted row of 34 eastern redbud trees, dubbed "Warrior's Walk," each planted beside a granite stone engraved with one of the fallen soldiers' names.

"This is really moving. It's something permanent," said Spc. JoDona Brown, standing next to the tree planted for her husband, Sgt. Henry L. Brown. "I could definitely come out here and sit, bring flowers."

The Browns were both deployed to Iraq. They had been married just 10 months when Sgt. Brown, 22, of Natchez, Miss., was killed.

His wife wore his dog tags with her dress Wednesday -- just as she wore one of them with her uniform while at war.