Two Hawai'i Marines were killed Monday while on foot patrol in Iraq, bringing to 11 the number of Marines lost by the 3rd Battalion at a time of renewed violence against Americans.

Lance Cpl. William J. "B. Jay" Leusink, 21, of Maurice, Iowa, was hit by a roadside bomb while patrolling in Haqlaniyah, Iraq, according to a statement from the family.

Sgt. David R. Christoff, 25, of Rossford, Ohio, was killed on his second deployment to Iraq with a Hawai'i-based unit. The popular sergeant fought through the streets of Fallujah in late 2004 and early 2005 in one of the biggest battles of the Iraq War, and re-enlisted with the desire to go back to the country, his father said.

David Christoff Sr. said the roadside bomb that killed his son was bigger than most.

"He was pretty close to the blast," Christoff said.

The Ohio man said three other Marines also were killed and several were injured.

Details were still trickling back to Kane'ohe Bay yesterday.

"I can only confirm two (from Hawai'i) right now," base spokesman 2nd Lt. Binford Strickland said. "If there's a third or fourth one, I don't have any information in my hands."

Cpl. J.J. Aguirre, a friend of Christoff and a Hawai'i Marine who lost so many friends in Fallujah in 2004 that "I don't even want to begin to count," said the Marine sergeant's death is still hard to grasp.

"I can remember going to Hooters and eating with his whole squad," Aguirre, 24, said. "The guys would be like, 'Man, I'd follow that guy anywhere. If he said lay down here and open a field of fire with no cover, I'd do it.' "

Since arriving in Iraq in March, and through April 22, the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment had lost three Marines.

From April 28 through yesterday, at least eight have been killed.

The battalion headquarters is at Haditha Dam northwest of Baghdad, but its 900 Marines and companies are spread throughout the "Triad" of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana near the Euphrates River and down to the Baghdadi-Jubbah-Dulab region.

DEADLY PATTERN

According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, the 76 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in April is the highest total so far for 2006. At least 53 have been killed this month.

Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commanding general of Multinational Corps-Iraq, said at a May 19 press briefing that the U.S. military is seeing a pattern "that we've seen many, many other times in Iraq."

In this case it accompanied the seating of Parliament.

"We've seen a pattern of the insurgents and the terrorists and the foreign fighters taking advantage of a key and critical period in Iraq," Chiarelli said.

David Christoff Sr. said if there was one word to describe his son, it was "charisma."

"He just shined. When he arrived in town, everyone was here to greet him," he said.

His grandmother said David Christoff Jr. left the University of Toledo and enlisted in the Marine Corps the day after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Marine lost five of his buddies and took some shrapnel from a roadside bomb in Fallujah on Nov. 12, 2004, his father said.

Friends say he received two Navy commendation medals for his actions on the deployment.

SECURING THE PEACE

David Christoff Sr. said "all those (Marines) are heroes to me. It's just incredible what they've done."

He said his son was disappointed in the way the media has portrayed U.S. troops in Iraq.

"They are not telling the whole story. They are not telling any of the good that is coming out of this," the elder Christoff said.

Among the Marines' jobs then and now is to train Iraqi security forces to take over.

Continuing that job was one of the reasons Christoff wanted to go back to Iraq. It was a condition of his re-enlistment that he be assigned to the 3rd Battalion and go to Iraq instead of going to Afghanistan with his former unit, the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, his father said.

He told his father that the area northwest of Baghdad was a lot quieter than Fallujah.

"It just seemed he was letting me believe that his job was much easier than it was before," Christoff Sr. said.

A BROTHER AND A HERO

A total of 11 Marines with the 3rd Battalion have been killed in Iraq, including three on April 28 that the Defense Department reported as being based out of Camp Pendleton in California.

The 3rd Marine Regiment now lists the Marines, who were likely attached to the 3rd Battalion for its Iraq deployment, on its Web site.

Sgt. Edward G. Davis III, 31, of Antioch, Ill.; Cpl. Brandon M. Hardy, 25, of Cochranville, Pa.; and Sgt. Lea R. Mills, 21, of Brooksville, Fla., died while conducting combat operations in Anbar Province, the Defense Department said.

Aguirre said Christoff was "hyped" to go to Marine Security Guard school after returning from Iraq, and then go wherever that assignment took him.

Sgt. Hector Zelaya, 31, said "it wasn't a friend I lost; I lost a brother" with Christoff's death.

"I've been through everything with him, from the beginning of boot camp to (school of infantry), from the Philippines and Korea and Thailand to Fallujah. He's my little brother," Zelaya said. "He was a true leader, and he had the confidence to stand alone."

Christoff's father said his son's body will be back in Ohio for a service over the Memorial Day weekend, and then he'll be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

"Where else do you bury a hero?" asked his father.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.