IN THE 62 years that the 3rd Battalion 25th Marines has been based in the blue-collar suburb of Brooke Park, outside Cleveland, Ohio, this small community has known the loss of its sons to war.

But in one of the bloodiest weeks for US troops in Iraq, 21 young Marines from this Reserve battalion were killed by insurgents — 14 of them by a huge roadside bomb on Wednesday — leaving the people of Brooke Park stunned.

Since the battalion, which is made up of police officers, construction workers and university students, left for Iraq in May, 41 of its members have been killed.

Ken Hiltz, a police officer and former Marine, said: “Is the 3rd Battalion of the 25th Marines fighting the entire war? This battalion is decimated. I’m just losing count. It’s too much for one human being to absorb in a week.”

In Brooke Park yesterday, along a fence outside the 3rd Battalion headquarters, people had left flowers, hundreds of US flags, Stars and Stripes balloons and lit candles. A single, incongruous badge had been left saying: “Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home Now.” Mark Elliott, the Mayor of Brooke Park, said that some in his community might begin to question if such sacrifice was worth it. “When it hits home this much, I would expect some to say, ‘How many more lives do we have to lose before we get our troops back home?’ ”

Pat Wilcox, who runs a doughnut shop next to the headquarters, said when she heard of the latest deaths: “Oh my God. I’m all for protection but this is getting a little bit ridiculous.”

Part of the battalion is Lima Company, based in Columbus, Ohio. Known as “Lucky Lima”, it has lost 16 men since May — nine of them in the roadside bomb on Wednesday.

Jeff Mers, a military veteran who raises funds for Lima Company, said that even before this week’s attacks he and other veterans were dazed from attending funerals of those killed in Iraq. “I’ve been to nine just in central Ohio in the past few months,” he said.

Jody Davids, whose son Wesley, a Lima Company lance corporal, was killed in May, said: “It’s getting to be very tough. It’s just so concentrated in this part of Ohio.”

After this week’s deaths, 95 troops from Ohio have been killed in Iraq. Only Texas and California have suffered greater losses — states more than twice as populated as Ohio.

Isolde Zierk, co-ordinator of Lima Company’s family support group, is awaiting news about her own son, Sergeant Guy Zierk, a member of Lima Company. “My stomach’s in knots,” she said, in tears.

The battalion’s losses this week began on Monday when guerrillas ambushed and killed six of its snipers patrolling outside the town of Haditha. Some were found with their throats slit. A seventh was killed by a suicide bomber in nearby Hit.

On Wednesday 14 died in an explosion that turned their 25-tonne troop carrier over. In the past 11 days 48 US troops have been killed in Iraq, 29 of them since Sunday. The deaths come as US military commanders conceded that insurgents were using bigger and more effective roadside bombs, as large as 600lb.

According to the Gallup organisation, 44 per cent of Americans now think that the war is “worth it”.

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