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Ordinary Marines. Extraordinary Lives.

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Photojournalism Gallery 2006
The Best Marine Media Photos

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Members the U.S. Marine Corps band from 29 Plams, Calif. prepare for former Pres. Gerald R. Ford's funeral Friday, Dec. 29, 2006 in Palm Desert, Calif. Ford died Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 93. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, pool)

Cpl. Sambo Phoeuk reads identification tags left by service members who have visited the Marine Corps Monument atop Mount Suribachi. More than 60 Marines with the 3rd Marine Division made the trek to Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi, one of the most storied battle sites in American military history.

Marine Pfc. Anthony Camacho does his part holding up the football field-sized U.S. flag during pre-game ceremonies at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, on Thursday.

Members the U.S. Marine Corps band from 29 Plams, Calif. prepare for former Pres. Gerald R. Ford's funeral Friday, Dec. 29, 2006 in Palm Desert, Calif. Ford died Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 93. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, pool)

Lance Cpl. Brian L. Gunton, a landing support specialist with Combat Logistics Regiment-15, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), accepts a holiday stocking at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, on Monday.

Sgt. David Osbert from El Paso, Texas, (left) and Cpl. Erik Maltais from Boston, Mass., (back 3rd left) both members of the Marine Security Guard at the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia, look on as a girl hugs Santa Claus (Army Col. Thomas Wilson), at the SOS Children's Village, a facility for children without parents or without parental care, in Macedonia's capital Skopje, on Friday.

A 3rd Reconnaissance Marine assists the military working dog section by acting as an aggressor. The 15th MEU (Special Operations Capable) is deployed with I MEF (Forward) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Anbar Province of Iraq.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace, right, reaches out to shake hands with outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, after the two spoke during a town hall meeting at the Pentagon on Friday. Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP Photo

Navajo Code Talkers Keith Little, left, Teddy Draper Sr., joke around during the filming of a documentary about them Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006, in Gallup, N.M. The film crew have been documenting the former Marines for the past year even taking them back to Iwa Jima where they recounted their experiences in front the camera. The Navajo language was used as a code the Japanese never deciphered. (AP Photo/Donovan Quintero)

Runners being moving at start of the 31st annual Marine Corps Marathon, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006, in Arlington, Va. The marathon winds its way through Washington, past numerous monuments, before ending near the Marine Corps War Memorial. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Lt. Col. Lewis D. Vogler (center), executive officer of Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), helps decorate a pumpkin with his son during the fourth annual Harvest Festival at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Oct. 19. Even though Vogler returned from deployment three hours earlier, he felt the festival provided a good opportunity to reunite with his family. Cpl. Rose A. Muth / U.S. Marine Corps

Carolina Panthers fullback Brad Hoover poses a question to service members who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan during Operation Welcome Home, a team-sponsored event during which soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines got to tour the team's Bank of America Stadium and meet some Panther players in Charlotte N.C., on Tuesday. Tech. Sgt. Larry A. Simmons / U.S. Air Force

Kayla Judge, 17, and her boyfriend, Lance Cpl. Shawn Patten, 19, of Moreno Valley (Riverside County), exchange farewells as he sets off Thursday for his first deployment to Iraq. Chronicle photo by Darryl Bush
 

Margaret Myers, widow of U.S. Marine Maj. Reginald R. Myers, receives a ceremonial flag in honor of her husband during a Medal of Honor ceremony held at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., Aug. 3, 2006.   Defense Dept. photo by William D. Moss

Ceremonial flags are ready to be presented to Medal of Honor recipients during a parade ceremony held in their honor at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., Aug. 3, 2006.   Defense Dept. photo by William D. Moss

U.S. Marine Pfc. Jacklyn H. Lucas shakes hands with the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael W. Hagee while receiving his Medal of Honor ceremonial flag during a ceremony held at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., Aug. 3, 2006.   Defense Dept. photo by William D. Moss

US marines fit US nationals with safety helmets and life vests as they wait for evacuation from the US embassy in Beirut by helicopter to Cyprus. Israeli troops conducted a limited ground assault across the Lebanese border to carry out "pinpoint" raids against Hezbollah outposts, a military source said, as hundreds of foreigners fled and the UN warned civilians left behind faced a humanitarian "catastrophe."(AFP/Oussama Ayoub)

U.S. Marine Cpl. Chris Doukas, of Vancouver, Wash., sits next to a 50-calibre machine gun in a helicopter above Anbar Province, in western Iraq, Saturday, July 8, 2006. Anbar province, inhabited mostly by Sunni Arabs, is the country's most violent. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

U.S. Marine Lt. John Warren of Greenville, S.C., sits next to an Iraqi boy in a house in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 26, 2006. U.S. troops have begun setting up new outposts and pushing patrols deeper into parts of this insurgent stronghold that previously went largely unpatrolled. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

Marine Corps Pfc. Jonathan Fryer sits with classmates during graduation ceremonies at Terrebonne High School in Houma La., on Wednesday. Matt Stamey / The (Houma, La.) Courier / AP Photo

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM After coming home from Afghanistan last night, Sgt. Luis Maceira looked at the gap where his son Joseph, 5, lost a tooth. Maceira is surrounded by his children, clockwise from left, Erika, 7, Kisha, 11, and Mera, 9. About 200 Marines and sailors from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, returned home after about five months in Afghanistan.

Marine Corporal Neil Frustaglio from Ishpeming, Mich., tunes his hand trike before the start of the tow-day 2006 Face of America Bike Ride in Gettysburg, Pa., Saturday, April 29, 2006. Frustaglio lost both of his legs to a Improvised Explosive Device (IED) last year while serving in Iraq. World T.E.A.M. Sports (The Exceptional Athlete Matters), working with the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and The National Navy Medical Center hosts the ride from Gettysburg to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington to honor and assist disabled servicemen and women returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President George W. Bush (R) attends an Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks in Washington May 5, 2006. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Marine Maj. Michael Miller, of State College, Pa., gets a kiss from his son Miles, as his wife Marina takes a picture as Miller returns to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, Hawaii, Monday, May 8, 2006. Miller, who is returning from his fifth deployment, is part of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. (AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni)

Marine Capt. Eric Thompson, of San Diego, gets his first look at his 8-week-old child, Remi, as his wife, Christina, looks on, after returning from a five-month deployment in Afghanistan, Monday, May 8, 2006, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Thompson, with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, was returning from his fourth deployment. (AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni)

President George W. Bush visits military personnel after attending a church service at Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, Maryland April 16, 2006. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/White House/Eric Draper/Handout

President Bush pats a Marine on the shoulder after delivering remarks on the war on terror in Wheeling, West Virginia, March 22, 2006. (Jim Young/Reuters)

Frances Druding (right front) gives her husband, Lance Cpl. Jason Druding, a hug after he gets off the bus that brought him back to Tampa, Fla., on Wednesd Ken Helle / St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times / AP Photo
 

Marine Sgt. Joshua Miller gives North Dakota future recruits a preview boot camp, during a drill demonstration, at the Bismarck, N.C., VFW Saturday, March 4, 2006. The young men who participated in the event are scheduled to enter boot camp in California this summer. (AP Photo/BismarckTribune, Will Kincaid)

Marine Corps Capt. Nick Marciano meets his youngest daughter, three-month-old Lily, for the first time as members of his family welcome him home to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., from a six-month deployment to Iraq on Saturday. Unlike most fathers who are deployed during the birth of their children, Marciano had a unique experience of having the birth broadcast to him in Iraq. Still, he says, that experience can’t with being able to hold her for the first time. Liz Bowles / New Bern Sun Journal / AP Photo

Marine veteran Jerry Mundy, a member of the Maine Troop Greeters, helps Army Spc. Talos Arend with a free cell phone call as his unit passes through the Bangor International Airport, Maine, on Monday. The group, which includes veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, has offered greetings, cookies and free cell-phone use to military personnel on flights to and from the Middle East region since May 2003. Joe Raedle / Getty Images