President George W. Bush recites the Pledge of Allegiance Monday, July 24, 2006, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., joining newly sworn-in American citizens, Specialist Sergio Lopez, 24, of Bowlingbrook, Ill., left, Specialist Noe Santos-Dilone of Brooklyn, N.Y., center, and Private First Class Eduardo Leal-Cardenas of Los Angeles, Calif., during their naturalization ceremony.
White House photo by Eric Draper

Tech. Sgt. John Stott looks out the left side of his MH-53M Pave Low helicopter as it escorts a Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion transporting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from Cyprus to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, July 24, 2006.

U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Brian Ferguson

The guided-missile destroyers USS Pinckney and USS Shoup sail in formation during the Rim of Pacific Exercise 2006 in the Pacific Ocean, July 25, 2006.

Eight nations are participating in RIMPAC, the world's largest biennial maritime exercise. Conducted in the waters off Hawaii, RIMPAC brings together military forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

U.S. Navy photo by
Chief Petty Officer Walter T. Ham IV  

Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, congratulates former Marine Sgt. Robert J. Mitchell on his receipt of the Navy Cross during a ceremony aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., July 28, 2006.  Mitchell who was wounded four times during his two tours in Iraq, received the medal, the nation's second-highest award for battlefield heroism, in recognition of his actions during the battle for Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004.

Photo by Cpl. George Hruby

Read former Marine Sgt. Robert J. Mitchell's heroic story