which runs from Turlock to Lodi between Sonora and Tracy - submitted 462 active duty and reserve ... Tracy backs troops in Iraq

That's one of the many reasons why every Thursday night, Marilyn Chorley's group, Military Moms Tracy, meets to put together packages, share news and offer support to local parents with a child in the military.

They cram in everything that fits in a box, from snack food, gum, dehydrated fruit, popcorn and candy to toiletries - baby wipes are like gold - movies on DVD, music CDs, paperback books, magazines and sunscreen.

The group began three years ago with Chorley meeting with a few other local moms, gathering to pray for and talk about their children. Through word of mouth, the meetings have swelled and now they send packages to 175 soldiers, sailors and Marines worldwide with local ties, including 45 serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I've got tons of support," Chorley, who has a son and daughter-in-law in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, said. "I've never had a negative. All the people I come in contact with are supportive. I don't think they'd be contacting me if they weren't supportive ... This is a patriotic town, otherwise there wouldn't be so many kids joining up."

Military Moms Tracy has helped put together a Web site for Tyler, http://www.fightingfortyler.com , with an e-mail link to send letters, Philip Jackson said.

Chorley's group has been communicating with the Jackson family in an effort to tend to their needs, but so far it's being taken a day at a time. She feels the "Pendleton Eight" will be vindicated.

"Nobody does anything unless they're told to do it," Chorley said. "I don't believe (the charges). There have been suggestions that insurgents are paying people off to say things. I'm not going to believe anything until they have the evidence ... I believe they're all innocent. They were sent over there to do a job."

The current military operations overseas appear to be following a historic trend, at least according to the Tracy War Memorial. The 9-foot tall monument - located between the Tracy Community Center and the Lolly Hansen Senior Center on 9th Street - lists 59 residents who have lost their lives during wartime and the numbers are astronomical when compared to today.

The then-small farming community lost nine soldiers in the Vietnam War, or 61.12 deaths per 100,000 residents, based on U.S. Census data from 1970. In the Korean conflict, there were six Tracy residents killed (53.12, 1960). In World War II, 38 Tracy soldiers died (336.61, 1950).

All told, 12 soldiers from San Joaquin County have been killed, including five from Stockton and one each from Lathrop and Lodi, since the War on Terror began in October 2001.

With five soldiers having been killed in action, Tracy owns one of the highest death rates per capita of any city in the state - and most likely across the nation.

A sixth Tracy resident, 40-year-old Shaun Fyfe, a civilian contractor working for the Department of Defense, died in an Iraq hotel room of natural causes in June 2004.

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