SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Alexis Gagalac had a portrait of his twin brother, Alexander, tattooed on his shoulder after Alexander was killed Sept. 9 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

The surviving twin wears a black "killed in action" bracelet with his brother's name on it. He has photos of Alexander in his room at the family's home in Salt Lake.

He visits Alexander's grave almost every day at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

He doesn't want to forget.

"He was a very caring person. He always looked out for everyone — me, my sister. Any time we had trouble, he was there," Alexis, 28, said yesterday.

As 4,000 Stryker brigade soldiers head through Kuwait on their way to a new deployment to Iraq and a new watch by families begins, Schofield Barracks held a "Fallen Warrior Remembrance Ceremony" yesterday to honor the 41 soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq between July 2006 and October 2007.

About 7,000 Hawai'i soldiers spent up to 15 months in and around the northern Iraq cities of Kirkuk, Tikrit, Hawija and Mosul. The soldiers served at a time of spiking violence, and the losses compared to 13 for 5,200 Schofield troopers from a 2004 deployment to Iraq.

For many who recently returned to Hawai'i, the emotion of combat is still there, just below the surface, and the pain from the loss of buddies still great.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of the 25th Infantry Division, doesn't want to forget.

"As I was traveling throughout our area of responsibility in Iraq, I began thinking about how we could honor our fallen comrades," Mixon told more than 400 people — most of them soldiers — assembled for yesterday's remembrance in the main post chapel.

"I wanted to ensure that their sacrifice was duly recognized and the families would know that we fellow soldiers would never forget them," Mixon said.

Memorials were held in Iraq and back at Schofield with boots, rifles and helmets, and officials stressed that the observance yesterday was not a memorial but rather another acknowledgement that 41 soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and a way to keep them alive in memory.

There were few families from the Mainland, but the close-knit Gagalac family made up for that with more than 30 family members and friends. Alexis Gagalac was one of them.

NO FORGETTING

Some families came long distances to be at the remembrance and meet fellow soldiers. The Kreges came from the Buffalo, N.Y. area, Schofield officials said.

Pfc. Travis Krege, 24, of Cheektowaga, N.Y., was one of five Schofield soldiers killed on Dec. 6, 2006, when a large roadside bomb hit their Humvee in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk.

At the time, it was the single greatest combat loss for the 25th Division since the Vietnam War.

That milestone would be eclipsed by the deaths of 10 Schofield soldiers on Aug. 22 when the Black Hawk helicopter they were in crashed about 21 miles west of Forward Operating Base Warrior at Kirkuk Airbase.

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Noell, 34, doesn't want to forget.

He'll remember, in particular, Staff Sgt. Richwell A. Doria, 25, and 1st Lt. Frank B. Walkup IV, 23.

Doria, from San Diego, died Nov. 7 after being struck by small-arms fire during an air assault mission south of Kirkuk.

He was mortally wounded trying to help rescue soldiers a week after he pulled other soldiers from a blown-up Humvee — an act that led to Doria being recommended for a commendation.

Walkup, of Woodbury, Tenn., died on June 16 when a roadside bomb detonated during a foot patrol in Rashaad, Iraq.

"Sgt. Doria was a quiet guy, but when it came to being a leader, he got in there," said Noell, one of hundreds of Iraq vets who attended the ceremony in green Class A uniforms.

"He loved to work out. He loved his wife, and had a brand-new daughter," Noell said.

Noell said "it was bad" when Doria was killed. "He was the first guy that we lost (in the platoon). It was extremely hard."

Along with the deaths of Doria and Walkup, two soldiers in the platoon each lost a leg to roadside bomb blasts.

"It (the deployment) started out good, but as soon as we lost Doria, it got tougher as we went along," Noell said.

Asked if Doria will be with him in memory for the rest of his life, Noell said, "Definitely."

Among the soldiers Sgt. Curtis Phillips, 24, will have with him is Staff Sgt. Nimo Tauala. The 29-year-old Honolulu man, a 1995 Kaimuki High graduate, died March 17 in Iraq from noncombat-related injuries.

The Department of Defense at the time offered no details of what happened to Tauala.

"He was a really great guy," Phillips said. "He was real easy-going, and he had a great sense of humor."

Capt. Charles Popov, the battalion chaplain for the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolf-hounds," said the mission was very successful, but there were difficult times.

Besides 19 killed, the battalion and associated units had more than 300 wounded, with 60 soldiers who did not return to duty.

"So some serious wounds, and with that many deaths (there were) very difficult emotions, spiritually and psychologically, but they always seem to be resilient, bouncing back and getting back to the fight," Popov said after the remembrance.

PAIN LINGERS

During the chapel ceremony, each of the 41 names was read aloud, and a photo projected onto a screen.

The last was that of Sgt. Alexander Gagalac, one of the Wolfhounds and the last soldier from the deployment to be killed. He was eight days away from leaving Iraq.

His twin brother, Alexis, who also served in the regular Army and now is in the Hawai'i Army National Guard, said the pain is still great.

"It's never going to change. My mom cries every day. I do, too," Alexis said. "There is nothing that could ever replace my brother."

He wishes he had more time with his brother when he was on active duty and only was able to see him on leave.

In the meantime, he keeps close what memories he has.

"It's important to me," Alexis said. "Every day I fear that I will forget. I know I can't forget — he was a big part of my life. But that's one thing I just don't want to do. I don't want to forget."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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