Two months ago, City Paper intern Christopher Schwartz was given a weighty task: Track down the families of every local soldier killed in Iraq and talk to them about personal sacrifice.

His aim wasn't to pass judgment on whether we should be there or not. Rather, Schwartz set out to bring home the heart-wrenching stories that are hard to come by, considering we can't even see pictures of coffins at Dover Air Force Base.

Schwartz quickly faced the reality that he may never meet all the families; he's already interviewing survivors who weren't grieving when the project began. Back then, their loved ones were still alive.

"In each memorial we ask ourselves, 'Was it worth it? Was the life of this man, whom you or I might have brushed shoulders with at a coffee shop or concert or supermarket, worth this war?'" says Schwartz, a La Salle University grad. "Caught up in our day-to-day concerns, we may be purposefully pushing out of mind the thousands of our fellow Americans who are dying and soon to die in Iraq, as well as the tens of thousands of Iraqis — civilians like you and I — who are joining our young men and women in the grave."

As Celeste Zappala, a mother of one our city's fallen, puts it, "People have got to open their eyes and accept that this is happening in the name of America. If you really are a citizen of this democracy, then you have to take responsibility for this war. You're for it or against it. Whatever you are, be it, just don't turn the newspaper page."

We pledge to cover these stories until the last soldier sets foot back on American soil, and we hope these stories of sacrifice will both honor the fallen and show the horrifying realities of war to Philadelphians.