The deployment has been a trial by fire, rocket-propelled grenade and death, and the Hawai'i Marines have only spent a few weeks at war.

For the Marines and their families in Hawai'i, the stress of dealing with eight dead has been compounded by what is expected to lie ahead.

"I think all of us are a little on edge," said Melody Michaelson, whose husband, Andrew, is a 30-year-old staff sergeant with 1/3 in Iraq. "I can't speak for everyone, but (I would think) anyone who has a loved one over there, regardless if they are in Fallujah or not, they are on edge, especially when they start talking about mounting attacks."

Michaelson added: "This is nothing like the majority of us have ever seen before."

Cmdr. Lach Noyes, a Navy doctor in Fallujah, said the number of dead and wounded from an assault on the city would "probably" reach levels not seen since Vietnam.

The Boston Globe reported that the medical team that treats U.S. casualties in the Fallujah area has doubled its staff and supplies.

More than 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines have taken up positions around the city, where an estimated 1,000 to 6,000 insurgents are dug in.

Staff Sgt. Jason Benedict

"I looked to my right where everyone else was sitting," Benedict, 28, told The Boston Globe. "There was nobody there, just smoke."

It was the deadliest attack against U.S. forces in six months. Ten Marines were wounded.

Seen sitting on a cot in a photo, his left hand wrapped in gauze, Benedict displayed the anger many of the Hawai'i Marines must feel.

"You've got to expect casualties," he said. The fight for Fallujah, he added, "is overdue."

The seesaw occupation of Fallujah produced a Hawai'i-related death on March 31, when retired U.S. Army Ranger Wesley J. Ba-talona, 48, who was born on the Big Island and was working as a military contractor, was killed with three other Americans. After the attack, the bodies were beaten by a mob and two burned corpses were hung from a bridge.

The horrific acts, televised around the world, set in motion both Fallujah's transformation into a symbol of Iraqi resistance and the coalition's determination to snuff out the insurgency.

The aftermath — which saw 700 Marines begin a siege of the city, only to pull out in the face of mounting international criticism — continues to take a toll.

Dennis Astor

Astor is now bothered by the night. "I'm just afraid my friends are going to pop up outside, and I'll see them, see my dead friends," he told the Post.

The Marines who died in the suicide bombing and who will be memorialized tomorrow are: Pfc. John Lukac, 19, of Las Vegas; Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Riedel, 19, of Northglenn, Colo.; Lance Cpl. Jeremy D. Bow, 20, of Lemoore, Calif.; Lance Cpl. Michael P. Scarborough, 28, of Washington, Ga.; Lance Cpl. Travis A. Fox, 25, of Cowpens, S.C.; Cpl. Christopher J. Lapka, 22, of Peoria, Ariz.; and Lance Cpl. John T. Byrd II, 23, of Fairview, W.Va.

All were with 1/3. It was the state's single-day greatest combat loss since the Vietnam War. An eighth Marine killed in the attack, Sgt. Kelley L. Courtney, 28, of Macon, Ga., was assigned to 1/3, but he was based in Okinawa.

About 900 Marines and sailors with 1/3 — as well as six CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters with Heavy Marine Helicopter squadron 463 and approximately 70 Marines from the squadron — deployed with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Okinawa in July.

Meanwhile, approximately 1,000 Kane'ohe Bay Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment are deploying to Afghanistan this week.

Courtney, in his last e-mail from Iraq to his older brother, said, "Don't tell Mom, but I'm scared," the Associated Press reported. "We are about to stir up a hornet's nest here shortly and I'm going to be right in the middle of it."

Tomorrow, the fallen Marines will be remembered at 11 a.m. in the Kane'ohe base chapel. If the crowd is too large, the service may be moved to the theater.

Michaelson said the 1/3 family at Kane'ohe Bay has been coping "as best as can be expected."

"The families are obviously grieving — all of us are," she said. "Whether we have an injured Marine or not, whether it was our husband or not, all of us have kind of come together."