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The war in Iraq has taken the lives of several area servicemen. Here are profiles of four local men, along with a list of Massachusetts residents killed in action.

Eric Valdepenas

Marine Lance Cpl. Eric Valdepenas, 21, died in September 2006 when his military vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Iraq's El Anbar Province.

But the Seekonk marine was a hero not only to his countrymen, family and fellow Marine reservists. He and others also helped save the life of a young Iraqi girl who needed to be brought to the United States for treatment of a rare birth defect.

According to a special report, "Remember Us," that aired last year on New England Cable News, Valdepenas's unit was pursuing possible triggermen as the result of an earlier incident in which a roadside bomb rocked their convoy. In following the suspects, Valdepenas and others came across an Iraqi woman who begged them to find medical help for her daughter. The young child, victim of a rare birth defect in which the bladder develops outside the body, required urgent treatment. The Marines contacted specialists back home in the United States in an attempt to save the girl.

But since the child's family was in an area frequented by insurgents, the Marines judged that any open-handed show of friendship would only excite the wrath of anti-American radicals. So an elaborate plan was hatched in which the Marines would stage a mock arrest and spirit the girl aboard a flight out of the country.

Before the raid could be carried out, however, a bomb exploded under Valdepenas's vehicle in Fallujah. Valdepenas and two others died.

Nonetheless, the Marines successfully carried out the deception, and the girl received lifesaving treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital. The girl and her family have since been returned to Iraq.

John Vangyzen

Marine Lance Cpl. John J. Vangyzen IV, 21, of Dighton, a graduate of Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, died in July 2004 in fighting in Al Anbar Province in Iraq. Another Marine from Vangyzen's unit, Michael S. Torres, 21, of El Paso, Texas, was killed in the same action.

Vangyzen, on his second tour in Iraq, had enlisted while he as still a student at Dighton-Rehoboth. He had won the school's John Berger Award for character and his ability to work with others.

After the bombings of Sept. 11, 2001, family members said he had worked to have his enlistment expedited so that he could be ready to ship overseas.

Adam Kennedy

Sgt. Adam P. Kennedy of Norfolk died in April of last year from wounds as a result of a roadside bomb in Iraq. He was 26. Kennedy was a graduate of Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, where he was an honor roll student and participated in football, wrestling and track. After graduation he enrolled in the corps of cadets at Norwich University in Vermont, graduating in 2004. Upon graduation from Norwich, he joined the Army and was named the distinguished honor graduate of his bootcamp class, where he was recognized for discipline and leadership skills.

He was a member of the Army's 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based in Alaska. He was deployed to Iraq in October, 2006.

Kennedy's death brought a local focus to the division over the war when Kennedy's father, David, criticized the prosecution of the conflict during a memorial service at Norwich University.

The town of Norfolk recently dedicated a memorial to Kennedy at the corner of Grove and Union Streets. A local scholarship was also named in his honor.

Charles Caldwell

Sgt. Charles T. Caldwell of North Providence, R.I., formerly of Attleboro, died in September, 2003, when the military policeman's vehicle was struck by a bomb on a main highway south of Baghdad.

A member of the Rhode Island National Guard, he was 38.

Caldwell had been married only seven months to his wife, Margaret. The couple had advanced their wedding from June to February when the conflict in the Middle East began approaching a boiling point.

Caldwell has been the subject of dozens of tributes posted by friends, family members and former military buddies at various Iraq War-related Web sites.