On this Me­mori­al Day, the Los Angeles Times pays trib­ute to the Cali­for­nia ser­vice mem­bers who have died in the wars in Afgh­anistan and Ir­aq by pub­lish­ing a se­lec­tion of com­ments pos­ted over the last year by those who knew and loved them. Hun­dreds more can be read on The Times' data­base, Cali­for­nia's War Dead.

These memor­ies speak of friend­ship and loss in a simple and heart­felt way — and re­mind us of the great sac­ri­fices made in ser­vice to this coun­try.

More than 6,000 mem­bers of the Amer­ic­an mil­it­ary have died since the con­flict in Afgh­anistan began in late 2001. Among them are 701 Cali­for­ni­ans and an ad­di­tion­al 474 men and wo­men who were as­signed to bases in this state.