As of Monday, 3,422 American soldiers had died in Iraq. That total has climbed by 15 since Friday. It has climbed by 71 since the beginning of this month.

It is impossible grasp the enormity of that many deaths – to know their stories and what their losses mean to their families. To even attempt it would be overwhelming.

We owe it to their memories, however, to pause this Monday, as the nation recognizes Memorial Day, and reflect about the sacrifices so many people have made.

They have come from all over the country: Fort Wayne, Ind.; Kirksville, Mo.; Morrison, Colo.; West Milford, N.J.; Culver City, Calif.; Peoria, Ill.; Kingsville, Texas. The list goes on and on.

They died with most of their lives still ahead of them. Many of them were just out of high school or just starting families. Nearly 1,000 of them were 22 years old or younger.

Two recent casualties were natives of South Portland – Sgt. Jason Swiger and Cpl. Angel Rosa. Swiger was just 24 years old. He had just gotten married last May to Allana Regan, whom he had met in a coffee shop in Fort Bragg, N.C.

Swiger had wanted to be in the military since he was a boy, when he would sit on his uncle’s porch in Pennsylvania and watch paratroopers jump out of planes. He was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and on his third tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed.

Rosa was only 21. He, too, left behind a young wife, Elise. He attended South Portland High School and played on the soccer team there. Some of his teammates spoke at his funeral about how he had shown leadership on the field, pushing them to win.

Rosa and Swiger were just two of the latest casualties from Maine. Another soldier who died in Iraq a few years ago, Larry Roukey, was from Westbrook. At 33, Roukey was older than Rosa and Swiger, but in many ways his life was just beginning, too. He left behind a wife, young son and a stepdaughter.

It is impossible to know everything about all of the soldiers who have died in service to the country. It’s impossible to feel all the grief their families have known, or to understand what sort of a void their absences will leave in our world.

Since we are not capable of that, we owe it to them to pause Monday and reflect on all of it – 3,422 Americans lost in Iraq, 386 lost in Afghanistan, 382 in the Persian Gulf War, 58,200 in Vietnam, and the hundreds of thousands of deaths that preceded them in all the wars that have come before them.

This Monday, go to a parade in Scarborough, South Portland, Westbrook or Gorham, or simply sit for a while in silence.

Brendan Moran, editor