~ God Bless the 17 sailors that were killed in a suicide bomb attack ~

Cherone Gunn

Signalman SR

Rex, Ga.

Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Louis Gunn, 22, grew up in Virginia Beach, Va., but lived with an aunt and uncle in Rex, Ga., in recent years. He enrolled in the Navy in January because he wanted to be a policeman someday, said Brandon Ervin, a former neighbor in Rex. Ervin said Gunn used to baby-sit for his children. “Most guys his age, their thing is to go out and party, not to give their time to anyone else,” Ervin said. “To see a guy like him be able to share his time with children, that was really great.”

James McDaniels

Seaman

Norfolk, Va.

McDaniels was on his first overseas deployment. He planned to stay in the Navy for three years, then use the money he saved to attend college, said his mother, Diane McDaniels. The 6-foot-4 McDaniels -- "Little Mac" to his friends and family -- played basketball at Norview High School and enjoyed pickup games with his Navy buddies. The day before the explosion, he sent an e-mail to his girlfriend, asking her to tell his mother to mail him combat boots to replace his worn out pair.

Timothy Saunders

OS 2

Ringgold, Va.

Saunders was a former track and football star at Dan River High School. Principal Carissa Knight remembered him as a kindhearted person involved in a lot of activities. Saunders, a career Navy man, was married and the father of two daughters, ages 10 and 7.

Lakiba Palmer

ET Chief

Morrisville, Pa.

Electronics Technician 1st Class Richard Costelow, 35, was from Morrisville, Pa., a blue-collar suburb across the Delaware River from Trenton, N.J. His wife and three children had been staying at the Paxtuxent River Naval Air Station in Lexington Park, Md.

“The whole Costelow family, they are wonderful people,” said Antoinette Abel, who grow up across the street from them in Morrisville.

Andrew Triplett

Ensign

Macon, Miss.

Ensign Andrew Triplett from Macon, Miss., had been in the Navy for 13 years. “He was a good family man. He had two children and he was just a likable person,” said his mother, Savannah Triplett, a cook at C&K Super Stop in the small Mississippi town of Shuqualak.

“He just loved the Navy. That’s all he used to talk about.” Triplett, who will be buried in Norfolk, Va., where he lived with his wife, Laurie, of Detroit, and their children.

Craig Wibberley

Seaman Apprentice

Williamsport, Md.

Duties aboard the Cole for Seaman Craig Wibberley, 19, of Williamsport, Md., included raising and lowering the destroyer’s small anchor. “He was a good all-American boy,” said the Rev. Anne Weatherbolt, the Wibberley family minister.

“Any time there’s a loss on a small community everybody feels it.” His mother, Patty Wibberley, is a nursing assistant at an assisted-living center. “I’m just numb. It hasn’t sunk in yet,” she said.

One of Wibberley’s friends, Tyler Growden, 19, said the two liked to fish in the Potomac River. He and others described Craig — who graduated from Washington Technical High School last year — as someone who had no enemies.

HT3

Mechanicsville, Va.

Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class, Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, of Mechanicsville, Va., was planning to sign up for another tour of duty in January. He was the father of a 2-year-old boy, Noah. Clodfelter graduated from Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville in 1997, and was described as a good student who wrestled and played football. He was an Eagle Scout.

Lakeina Francis

MSSN

Woodleaf, N.C.

Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, of Woodleaf, N.C., a mess management specialist aboard the Cole, graduated from high school last year and followed her father into a military career. “The family is taking it real hard,” said the Rev. Willie Gray, a neighbor.

Timothy Gauna

ITSN

Rice, Texas

Information Systems Technician Tim Gauna, 21, of Rice, Texas, was a 1997 graduate of Ennis High School. Teachers said he was a quiet student who excelled in baseball and art.

In 1999, he joined the Navy as a radio man. “He went there to better himself, to make a better life for himself,” said his mother, Sarah Gauna. The family last heard from Gauna by phone a few days ago as the Cole headed for a secret destination. “He just kept saying, ‘We’re in dangerous waters, Mom, but we’re OK. I’ll be OK. I promise you,’” Sarah Gauna said.

Ronald Owens

EWT3

Vero Beach, Fla.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald Scott Owens, 24, was a native of Vero Beach, Fla., married, with a 4-year-old daughter. He graduated from Vero Beach High in 1994, joined the Navy in 1998 and had just shipped out in August for his first tour.

He e-mailed his wife Wednesday about plans for a weekend vacation to the beach when he returned home in February. “Always at the end of his letters, he said, ‘Keep smiling. I’ll be home soon,“‘ said his wife, Jamie.

Joshua Parlett

ENFN

Churchville, Md.

Parlett joined the Navy last year after graduating from high school. "He believed in what he was doing," said his father, Leroy Parlett.

Patrick Roy

Fireman Apprentice

Keedysville, Md.

Roy was from a town of 500 with a downtown boasting little more than a post office and a church. He attended boarding school at the Storm King School in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, where he captained the lacrosse team, managed the wrestling team and acted in school plays. He enlisted after graduating last year. "He was a nice kid who wanted to serve his country," said Michael Walsh, a family friend. "It was something that he wanted to do. We are trying to take some solace from that."

Kevin Rux

Ronchester Santiago

MS3

Kingsville, Texas

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronchester Santiago, 22, of Kingsville, Texas, had been in the Navy since graduating in 1996 from H.M. King High School. He was scheduled to get out of the service in December and planned to study electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

“He was attracted to the adventure in the Navy,” said his father, Rogelio Santiago, a retired Navy petty officer first class. “He wanted to see the world. He just wanted the experience.”