KANE'OHE BAY — About 1,400 Hawai'i Marines and sailors with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines grieved yesterday on Fort Hase Beach over the loss of a brother killed on Dec. 21 in western Iraq, promising to keep him alive in their hearts and lore.

Lance Cpl. Thomas "T.J." Reilly Jr. died when an explosive device hit his Humvee. The 19-year-old London, Ky., man was in the third and least protected of three vehicles heading back from a meeting with Iraqi police in Karmah, between Fallujah and Baghdad, when their convoy was attacked, Marines said.

Reilly was the sole fatality for the 1/3 Marines on the recent seven-month deployment.

Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Perez spoke at the beachside memorial, saying that now that the Marines are back in Hawai'i, Reilly's death "hurts even more."

"Everyone's like, 'It's the best feeling in the world to come back,' " Perez said. "And it is a good feeling, but yet, a part is still missing from us, part of our hearts, and whether or not the majority of us decide to get out or stay in, we're always going to remember (Reilly), no matter what."

'A GREAT SON'

Part of the reason the memorial was held on Fort Hase Beach, with the surf lapping at the shore just yards away, was because the chapel couldn't accommodate all the Marines.

Folding chairs were set up in the sand for the family, and a "combat memorial" of an upturned M-16 and Reilly's helmet, dog tags, boots and a photo was placed nearby.

Reilly's mother, Georgina R. Bray, and his sister, Regina Reilly, accompanied Marines as they placed a wreath in the surf, and the 187 Marines and sailors in Company C each threw into the waves a single rose in memory of the young Marine.

"It was very beautiful," Bray said of the memorial for her son.

Even though he was a Marine and a radio operator, Reilly also wanted to someday go to culinary school, his mother said.

"He loved baking cakes. He actually loved doing all kinds of things, played sports, bake cakes — be a great son," Bray said. "If I could tell anybody anything, they should be like my son, and always call their mother, and always tell her that they love her, because you never know. ..."

"Amazing Grace" was sung, Reilly's name was called out three times in the traditional unanswered roll call, a gun salute was fired on the beach, and taps was played. One Marine sobbed uncontrollably and was hugged by several others.

"With T.J. and I, pretty much all it was just joking around, fun and games and hanging around with girls. That's pretty much all we did," said Lance Cpl. Floyd Rude. "It didn't matter what we were doing when we were out, or what was happening, you could always count on T.J. for getting you out of trouble, or just being there for you no matter what."

OTHER LIVES LOST

Reilly was killed near Market Street about 200 yards from the spot where, six months earlier, three Hawai'i Marines with the 2nd Battalion died in a suicide bomb attack.

Those Marines were battalion commander Lt. Col. Max A. Galeai, Capt. Philip J. Dykeman, and Cpl. Marcus W. Preudhomme.

Lt. Col. Andy Milburn, the commander of the 1st Battalion that just returned, said the area just to the south of Market Street, which runs through Karmah, was "quite a volatile area."

For most of the deployment it was a fairly quiet area, Milburn said, but the dominant tribe there "doesn't have a history of being pro-coalition."

The Marines were in a three-vehicle convoy that included a big Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, a 7-ton truck and the Humvee in which Reilly was riding.

Marines said the Humvee, the least protected, was hit by an explosive device. Several other Marines received some shrapnel injuries but recovered.

Staff Sgt. Mike Brown, who was Reilly's platoon leader, said not a day goes by that he doesn't think about the young Marine, and for a while, it caused him to question his faith.

"I've been a firm believer my whole life that everything happens for a reason. I couldn't understand why that happened to him," said Brown, who wears a black remembrance bracelet with Reilly's name.

God had a bigger plan for Reilly, "but I'd rather him be down here with us," Brown said.