KÄNE'OHE — The Marine Corps yesterday honored 10 men who died in combat in Afghanistan this year, paying tribute to their heroism, their belief in service to their nation and their ultimate sacrifice.

With the blue-green Ko'olau Range and azure waters of Käne'ohe Bay as a backdrop, about 1,000 Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, known as 2/3, gathered as the names of their fallen comrades were read in roll call for the last time.

About 1,000 Marines and sailors with the 2/3 "Island Warriors" were deployed for seven months in Farah province, Afghanistan, and returned in late October and early this month. Those honored yesterday died during that deployment.

Velma Torres of Miami traveled with 10 family members to Hawai'i for the service. She said her son, Cpl. Christian A. Guzman Rivera, loved things military and joined his high school's ROTC unit in his freshman year.

She said when she last spoke to Christian, he had just received a promotion and was very happy.

"He asked me many times if we're proud of him and I made sure I said, 'Oh, yes, always, every minute,' " Torres said. "He let me know how much he loves us. That to say hi to everybody and the family. That, 'Don't worry mom, nothing is going to happen to me.' That 'I'm going to be back pretty soon.' "

She said she'll miss his phone calls and hugs, but she has found some comfort in the men in his unit who shared what he did in his last days.

"We need to continue praying for our troops, and we must never forget our heroes. We got so many," Torres said. "God bless America."

She was among many family members of the fallen service members who traveled to Hawai'i to take part in the service and a brick-laying ceremony at the memorial at the base's front gate.

A five-piece brass band yesterday set a somber mood over the crowd that filled the bleachers and tents between two hangars at the base. Brisk trade winds pushed bellowy white clouds across sunny skies.

Memorials with poster-size photographs of each of the men gave a short biography of who they were, where they came from and their military careers. Three guards stood behind each memorial, made of a helmet and dogtags on a rifle and boots.

The fallen chose the Marine Corps for the most difficult path they could find to test themselves, their commander, Lt. Col. Patrick Cashman, said at the service.

"Where do we find such men?" he asked. "We don't find them, they find us. Something in the way they're raised. Something in their formative years drives them to seek out challenges, conflict and sacrifice, and it's a good thing that they do, because the drums of war sounding in this nation, though at times it seem only a select few can hear them ... calls us to quarters."

Retired Marine 1st Sgt. John Bernard, of New Portland, Maine, wore his Marine Corps dress uniform to yesterday's service. He said his son, Joshua, who was killed Aug. 14 in an insurgent ambush in Helmand province, wanted to follow in his father's and grandfather's footsteps when he joined the Marines.

"I tried to talk him out of it, just to make sure that's what he's suppose to do," John Bernard said, adding that he doesn't regret his son's choice. "He wasn't doing it because I did it. I'm convinced that he knew that's where he was supposed to be."

Darryl Malone, whose brother Lance Cpl. John J. Malone was one of the honored, said the service was emotional and especially hard-hitting when he heard his brother's name called out during the roll call.

He and his mother were presented with a company T-shirt that was signed by everyone in the unit with messages to the family.

Malone said his brother, who wanted to be a Marine for a long time, was the peacemaker when they got into arguments. Malone, from New York, said his brother had a premonition about this tour.

"He knew he wasn't going to come back," Darryl Malone said. "That's what he told me before he went ... and he was right."

He said his brother was a hero. "He's a legend."