Fourteen Marine reservists were killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb in Iraq — one of the heaviest blows suffered by a single unit in the war. Two days earlier, five others from the same Ohio-based battalion were killed in an attack north of Baghdad.

LANCE CPL. TIMOTHY MICHAEL BELL JR.

When Lance Cpl. Timothy Michael Bell Jr.'s parents took him to Columbus, Ohio, in January to deploy for training, he had just one message for them, his stepmother said.

"He just said, 'This is what I was born to do,"' Vivian Bell said.

Bell, 22, of West Chester, Ohio, was killed Wednesday in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

Always protective of his three younger sisters, Bell applied that same ethic to joining the military, his father said.

"It's very important for me that everybody knows that he did this for them," Timothy Michael Bell Sr. said.

The Lakota East High School graduate was a black-belt in judo and was hoping to buy a motorcycle when he returned home in September, his father said.

CPL. JEFF BOSKOVITCH

Cpl. Jeff Boskovitch set a wedding date — Oct. 14, 2006 — with his fiancee, Shelly Tevis, when they spoke Saturday on the phone.

Days later, the 25-year-old Marine reservist from North Royalton, Ohio, was killed while on sniper duty in Iraq.

An aspiring police officer, Boskovitch was a driven Marine and a role model for his 42 cousins, family members said.

"He had the biggest heart in the world," said his uncle, Dan Boskovitch. "He was just a great kid."

The members of the sniper unit were close, his uncle said. Boskovitch declined a promotion because he wanted to stay with the unit.

Boskovitch, who graduated from Normandy High School in 1999, had completed the law enforcement program at Cuyahoga Community College and worked with the Geauga County sheriff, his uncle said.

SGT. DAVID COULLARD

Sgt. David Coullard had been sent around the world since joining the Marines as a reservist about 10 years ago. Still, he was determined to serve in combat.

On Christmas Day, after waiting years for active duty, he told his family that he had volunteered to go to Iraq.

"I personally think he just wanted to be in battle," said his stepfather, Greg Dziedzic. "I think he wanted to do what he was trained for."

Coullard, 32, of Glastonbury, Conn., was killed Monday, also while on sniper duty north of Baghdad.

Anita Dziedzic raised her only son as a single mother, and said she felt compelled to do things with him that a father would do. So she took him to target practice, and took a hunting course with him. He had talked about joining the Marines since was 9 years old.

When her son's death becomes too much to handle, Anita Dziedzic said she remembers the words her son told her when her mother died years ago.

"He said, 'Mom, you're going to be OK,"' she recalled. "So I guess I've told myself that all through this. That I'm going to be OK. I'm going to be OK."

LANCE CPL. DANIEL NATHAN DEYARMIN

Lance Cpl. Daniel Nathan Deyarmin had turned 22 just two days before he was killed Monday.

Deyarmin graduated in 2002 from Tallmadge High School, where he played football, said his sister Erica, 23. He hoped to open a rental property business when he returned from Iraq.

Deyarmin enjoyed racing dirt bikes and four-wheelers through Tallmadge, east of Akron in northeastern Ohio. He also liked to restore cars, his sister said.

"That was his favorite thing to do," she said.

Before leaving for duty, Deyarmin was one of four Marines who spoke to students at a local middle school about serving in Iraq.

"He believed in his country," Erica Deyarmin said. "He loved being a Marine."

LANCE CPL. BRIAN MONTGOMERY

Before leaving in January, Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery hugged his father.

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll be coming back home," Paul Montgomery recalled his son saying.

But on Monday the 26-year-old died along other members of his sniper unit. His son, Alexander, turned 1 year old on Wednesday.

Montgomery joined the Marine reserves in June 2002 and lived in Mentor, Ohio, with his wife and son.

He served in the battalion with his 21-year-old brother, Eric, who will escort his brother's body home, the family said.

Montgomery graduated from South High School in Willoughby in northeastern Ohio in 1998.

SGT. NATHANIEL ROCK

As a part-time police officer, Sgt. Nathaniel Rock displayed integrity and curiosity that would have suited him well in the profession.

Rock, 26, joined the police department across the river from Wheeling, W.Va., about a year ago and planned to continue as a full-time officer when he returned from Iraq.

"I always saved a spot for him," said Barry Carpenter, the police chief in Martins Ferry who described Rock as a talented, proud officer with great potential.

The Toronto, Ohio, native graduated in 1997 and served in the Marines for six years and then joined the reserves, said his mother, Adriana Rock.

"It was a goal he'd always had and a goal he was able to achieve," Carpenter said. "It allowed him to serve his country, but ultimately it brought about his demise."

LANCE CPL. EDWARD SCHROEDER

Rosemary Palmer wouldn't let her son play with guns when he was little, and she certainly didn't want him involved in the military.

"He was persuaded that if he joined the Marines, he would get a new sense of purpose," said Palmer, who found out Wednesday that her 23-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder, was among those killed in a roadside explosion.

Schroeder spent his preschool years in China and then finished school in Maplewood, N.J. His family moved to Cleveland after he graduated from high school and started classes at Ohio State University.

"It was always, 'What's out there? Let me try,"' Palmer said. "He wanted to experience life."

Palmer said she was speaking Wednesday morning with her husband, Paul, about plans to attend services for the reservists killed Monday when two men came walking down her street toward her house.

A relative who was there saw them coming and gave warning.

"My sister-in-law saw them and screamed, 'Get down here!' So we knew. They didn't even get a chance to knock," Palmer said.

LANCE CPL. BRETT WIGHTMAN

Lance Cpl. Brett Wightman planned to re-enlist in the Marines in October and wanted to rise to the top of the service, family members said.

"He said, 'People are upset because we're over here fighting,"' said his aunt, Missy Luttrell. "But he said, 'We just rescued some children from this house. And if you could have seen the looks on their faces and how glad they were to see us, it made it all worthwhile.' So he believed in what he was doing."

Wightman, 22, joined the Marines in 2002 after graduating from East Clinton High School in Sabina, about 30 miles southeast of Dayton, his aunt said. He was fulfilling a dream he had had since he was 3.

"He would play with those GI Joes and he'd say, 'I'm going to grow up and be one of these guys,"' Luttrell said. "All of his life, that's all he would talk about."