Ledger Enquirer -- “If we leave this house, the people in the house in front of us will shoot us,” were the last words that Marine Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick of Roswell, Ga., was heard calling into his radio before it went silent.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Edwin W. Johnson Jr., 31, of Columbus, Ga., died alongside them. He was assigned to 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

They were on a training mission with Afghan forces, who were to search the village for weapons and then meet village elders under an agreement to establish government authority there. Insurgents had set up positions in the village and in the mountains on either side and apparently attacked as the men reached the first compound.