Nearly 1,000 Marines and spouses and veterans said goodbye to the dead Marines in a packed base theater yesterday with standing room only in the rear and attendees spilling down both sides of the auditorium.

Whitney Wilson, who lives with her family at Hickam Air Force Base, had been seeing Lance Cpl. Jeremy D. Bow, 20, for seven months. After the memorial, which included Scripture reading, a color guard and taps, a tearful Wilson stood several feet away from the picture of a smiling Bow on the theater stage.

On a necklace, she wore a silver medallion that read: "Always in my heart forever and always my one and only," with his birthday, May 19, 1984, and his death, Oct. 30, 2004.

Bow called Wilson from Iraq on Oct. 29 to tell her how much he cared for her, promising to call her "a lot."

An unidentified Marine walked quietly past the row of helmets, weapons, boots and photos commemorating the deaths of 10 Kane'ohe Marines who died overseas. Nine of the Marines were killed in Iraq, eight in a recent suicide blast. The 10th died in Okinawa. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Eight of the Marines were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed an explosives-laden Suburban into a 7-ton truck near Fallujah in Iraq on Oct. 30. It was the state's single-day greatest combat loss since the Vietnam War.

Another died from heat stroke July 23 in Okinawa, and another was killed in an Oct. 24 vehicle accident near Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

One or 10, it didn't matter. The Marines had lost family, and each was remembered individually.

Marines clasped their hands in prayer yesterday as the service for their fallen comrades from Marine Corps Base Hawaii got under way. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The loss of eight Marines in the car bombing just two weeks after the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment arrived in Iraq represented the deadliest attack against U.S. forces in six months.

As the fallen were memorialized, other Hawai'i Marines with 1/3 were expected to be taking part in an assault on rebel-held Fallujah that began yesterday.

For the Marines and family, the early losses have been accepted as part of their duty, part of the dangerous job.

"Part of you wants to be a little callous and say, well, we're Marines and we do what we need to do. We go where we are needed, and I think all of us are aware we're here to give our lives in the defense of our nation, if necessary," said Turner, who was in combat in Somalia in 1993.

Cara Dennis' husband, Sgt. Jeremy Dennis, 23, is in Iraq with 1/3. The start of fighting for Fallujah was in her thoughts yesterday as she attended the memorial, but she said she has faith her husband will be fine.

"(The deaths) are pretty heartbreaking. I guess what's worse is it could be anybody. It could have been my husband," she said. "(But) we're doing OK. They are Marines, and they are strong. I've got complete faith."

About 900 Marines and sailors with 1/3 — as well as 70 Marines with Heavy Marine Helicopter squadron 463 — deployed to Iraq with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

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

Col. Jeff Patterson, commanding officer of the 3rd Marine Regiment, told those in attendance that they could take comfort in the knowledge that the fallen Marines are in God's hands.

"I know I speak for everyone in this auditorium and for everyone on this base, and for ... the entire community when I say that our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those great Americans," Patterson said.

Patterson said a lot of people complain about today's younger generation.

"They say they are weak, spoiled, unmotivated. Well, they've never met the Marines that we're remembering here today," Patterson said. "These men died serving their country and they died for the noble cause of freedom and liberty."

Three of the eight Marines killed in the suicide car bombing were married. The wife of one was in Okinawa and two other wives were on the Mainland. That left few immediate family members in Hawai'i.

Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Micah King, 27, knew four of the dead Marines well. Lance Cpl. Michael P. Scarborough, 28, "was always joking, always had something funny to say." Cpl. Christopher J. Lapka, 22, was a "hard-charger" who always gave 150 percent. Lance Cpl. John T. Byrd II, 23, was reserved, but could crack up fellow Marines. Lance Cpl. Travis A. Fox, 25, really knew his job.

"I keep seeing their faces, and I'll try to remember all the good times that I had with them," King said.

"One-three is not back yet, and it's kind of easier to deal with," he said. "I think it will hit me more when they come back and I realize — I'm not going to see their faces ever again."

A memorial for Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Riedel, 19, of Northglenn, Colo., took place in Colorado on the same day he was remembered in Hawai'i.

In Colorado, Russ Montanio tearfully pulled his sheriff's deputy badge from his uniform and placed it atop the flag-draped coffin of Riedel, his stepbrother.

Riedel wanted to follow his stepbrother into the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.

"Since you've never received a deputy's badge of your own, you can have mine," Montanio said.