Marking 10th Anniversary of Iraq War; Impact In Park Ridge Area

The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began 10 years ago this week -- on March 19, 2003 -- and although officially "over," fighting continues with discouraging persistence.

By one count, the war is directly responsible for 189,000 deaths, not including those who died from hardship caused by the fighting.

CNN has a stunning map of all casualties in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

In all, 4,802 Americans and allies have died in the war, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

Among them, were two people from Schiller Park and one from Skokie. From the iCasualties.org web site:

• Private Randol S. Shelton, 22, U.S. Army. Died Sept. 4, 2007 from hostile fire in an IED attack in the Baghdad area. From Schiller Park.
• Sgt. Grzegorz Jakoniuk, 25, U.S. Army. Died Nov. 30, 2005 from non-hostile fire, weapons discharge, northwest of Baghdad. From Schiller Park. 
• Sgt. Kraig Foyteck, 26, U.S. Army. Died Oct. 30, 2006 from hostile fire, small arms fire, in the western part of Baghdad. From Skokie.

On this 10th anniversary, we salute these American heroes.

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