source Courier Post
Cpl. Marc Ryan, a native of the waterfront town, died Nov. 15, 2004, in the
Iraqi city of Ramadi 
when a suicide bomber hit the Humvee he was in, said Linda
Ryan, his mother. Her son, a Marine, had already done two tours in Afghanistan
and was on his third tour in Iraq when he was killed.
"You can't imagine what it's like to lose somebody in such a hostile place. It's heart wrenching," she said. "For the longest time, I and this family felt so alone. We didn't know anybody like us."
LISA GRZYBOSKI/Courier-Post
Linda Ryan poses with two of her children, Lauren Harkins and Chris Ryan, as she holds a picture of her other son, Cpl. Marc Ryan, who died in Iraq in 2004.
Now, the numbers of the dead keep growing and growing, said Ryan, a member of Gold Star Mothers, a support group for mothers of soldiers killed in the nation's wars.
"All of these mothers keep getting added to the list," she said.
One of her biggest fears is that people will forget her son's name, forget he was a Gloucester City kid who played high school football and followed his father and grandfather into the Marines out of patriotism and tradition.
"When people say he died because of the price of oil that really hurts," Linda Ryan said. "He died for what he thought was right." read full story
