On a cold January day on this American base outside Tal Afar the soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment paused to say farewell to three of their own who died earlier in the month in a Blackhawk helicopter crash along with eight other Americans.

Those who could get away from duty for an hour filled an auditorium set up to provide a warriors' memorial service for the three: Maj. Douglas A. LaBouff, 36, a native of Baldwin Park, Calif.; Maj. Michael R. Martinez, 43, who grew up in Missouri; and 1st Lt. Joseph D. deMoors, 36, who was born in Montreal, Canada. LaBouff and deMoors were military intelligence officers. Martinez was a legal affairs officer.

It is good that on occasion we look upon the faces of some of the fallen and learn the names of their wives and children. They are not numbers but Americans whose deaths in a distant and dangerous land broke the hearts of three wives, nine children, mothers, friends and comrades. The soldiers' memorial service -- which happens far too often in Iraq -- is as close to a Viking funeral as you can get these days. On a stage flanked by the American flag and the battle flag of an old and distinguished regiment, which dates to the 1847 war with Mexico, there stood three bayoneted rifles -- each with a pair of desert boots in front, a helmet atop the rifle butt and a set of dog tags attached.

The program provided biographies of the three, and they were, of themselves, enough to make you weep.

Doug LaBouff, the program said, loved football and collecting stamps. He came to the Army as an ROTC graduate of Whittier College. He is survived by his wife, Karen, and two children, Cassidy, 7, and Douglas, 3, as well as his mother, Lela LaBouff.

Mike Martinez enlisted in the Army out of high school in 1980 and served as a paralegal and court reporter and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. He then went to college and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1998. He returned to the Army as an officer in the Judge Advocate Corps. He was a talented amateur photographer and a weightlifter. He is survived by his wife, Kelly, and four children -- Alex, 20, Kathryn, 19, Colby, 18, and Ben, 15, as well as his mother, Beatrice Martinez of Albuquerque, N.M.

Joseph deMoors enlisted in the Army in 2001 and was a French cryptologic linguist. In 2004 he completed Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He is survived by his wife, Vendella, and three children, Moroni, Demetrius and Chastity.

After the national anthem was played and chaplain David Causey gave the opening prayer, the regimental commander, Col. H.R. McMaster, spoke movingly of the selflessness of soldiers who willingly go into harm's way trying to help a people escape tyranny and terrorists. The colonel is a passionate and emotional leader when it comes to his troopers.

Half a dozen brother and sister officers rose to speak of each of the three and how hard they worked and how little they complained and how proud they were to serve with the Brave Rifles.

A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace," and then there was a last roll call in which sergeants with booming voices repeatedly called the names of the three who will never again answer "Here, First Sergeant!" A firing party just outside fired three volleys and a bugler sounded a sweet and mournful Taps.

With that, two by two, the Cavalry commanders and their sergeants major or first sergeants came on stage. Each knelt on one knee, head lowered, and tightly gripped the dog tags on each of the rifles and said a personal goodbye to Doug LaBouff, Mike Martinez and Joseph deMoors.

There is pain and pride and pageantry when you say farewell to a fallen soldier, and rightly so. The unspoken line I kept hearing that day was the question Frederic March asks at the end of the movie "The Bridges at Toko Ri":

"Where do we get such men?"

To which I add my own question:

What are we doing as a people and a nation to deserve the service and sacrifice of such men and women? We are entering our fifth year in a declared war against global terror, but our leaders ask no sacrifice of the 99 percent of Americans who are protected by the 1 percent.

They and we leave the sacrifices to those like the three soldiers, and their widows, and their children.