Marine Corps News Room

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1180787426191430.xml&coll=2

Saturday, June 02, 2007
Grant Segall
Plain Dealer Reporter

So he joined the reserves, hoping to do both.

But one duty got in the way of the other. The Marine fell before the firefighter arose.

The Iraq war has cut short the dreams of some 140 Ohio warriors and their families so far. But Squires' family is trying to keep those dreams alive.

The Cpl. Brad Squires Plaza will be dedicated today in the namesake's hometown, Middleburg Heights. Instead of just honoring Squires, 26, the plaza will commemorate all Ohio military personnel lost in Iraq.

Squires' mother, Donna, considers all of the Buckeye fallen to be family. Many relatives of the lost have met and grown close.

"We went through the same disbelief, the same grief," she says.

Angelo Nuzzo, a memorial trus tee and safety director of Brook Park, says, "It's heart- warming to see the way the fam ily has put their energies into memorializing their son and his fallen comrades."

The plaza is a rose garden, a living tribute to a young man full of life. Squires raced cars. He sang with a band. He played football at Berea High School. He loved to joke and make friends. His favorite word was a drawn- out "beau-ti-ful."

The family has often served the nation. Donna is an information supervisor for the Department of Veterans Affairs. An uncle was in the National Guard. A relative by marriage lost a brother in Vietnam.

But Donna doesn't think Brad needed these influences. He seemed born to fight for his country. As a toddler, he loved to wear camouflage and deploy toy soldiers.

In 1999, Squires joined the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, 4th Marine Division. The reserve unit is based in Brook Park, next to Middleburg Heights, and has an administrative company there. But Squires joined the bat talion's Weapons Company in Akron, partly to see more action.

Meanwhile, he held several jobs and started to study firefighting at Lorain County Community College. He lived in Grafton and spent a lot of time with his family, all nearby, including a big brother, Chad; a big sister, Jodie Bogdan; two nieces, and a nephew.

In 2005, the 3/25 got orders to fight in Iraq. A month before leaving, Squires married Julie Brandyberry.

The deployment proved to be one of America's bloodiest. But Squires made friends there. He posed for videos with Iraqi children. And he usually beat his comrades at Texas hold 'em. He earned many medals, including a Purple Heart.

On June 9, Squires told Julie by telephone that he believed in the war and planned to re-enlist. That day, his Humvee hit a roadside bomb, killing him and two comrades.

Says Donna, "They told us he died with a smile on his face."

For a couple of weeks, Squires' comrades avoided Texas hold 'em. They finally decided to play again in his memory.

The battalion's bloodiest days were yet to come. It lost six men on Aug. 1 and 14 on Aug. 3, in the last and worst of its losses. All told, 48 members did not come home.

Early in its grief, the Squires family started planning the memorial. It has raised $65,000 so far, a little short of the plaza's cost.

The plaza stands outside Old Oak Bible Church. Squires belonged to a different church, St. Mary Roman Catholic in Berea. But the Squires family gladly accepted land close to home.

"What better use could you put this piece of land to?" asks Old Oak's pastor, the Rev. Dave Butler.

Already, someone has left potted flowers and an unsigned note at the plaza: "Forever remembering, respecting and honoring."

The family hopes many others will visit and remember. A sound system will offer a choice of 10 patriotic or religious songs, from "The Star-Spangled Banner" to "Amazing Grace."

The plaza also has a black granite monument to Squires and a red granite bench for each of the five branches of service. It has a bronze plaque with the names of the dead for each of the war's four completed years so far. And it has room for more plaques.

"Unfortunately," says Jodie Bogdan, "this gets bigger and bigger each year."

But the family stands with Brad behind the increasingly unpopular war.

"The public has to realize that none of these young men and women died in vain," says Donna. "They are fighting for our freedom. One hundred percent, they're going to make a difference for us."