FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) – Families and colleagues of troops in the 101st Airborne Division gathered Wednesday to honor soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, including two soldiers killed after being kidnapped by insurgents in June and a Massachusetts soldier who died in the same attack.

The Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border holds a monthly ceremony for about 20,000 soldiers currently deployed and those killed since the war began.

During the ceremony family members of the fallen soldiers walked single-file and embraced in front of a row of soldier’s crosses, each with a pair of combat boots, a rifle and a helmet.

Eleven soldiers were remembered Wednesday, including Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass.; Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

Menchaca and Tucker went missing after being attacked by insurgents on June 16 at a checkpoint 12 miles south of Baghdad. Babineau was killed in the initial attack.

The remains of Menchaca and Tucker were found three days later and an al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video purporting to show their mutilated bodies.

Their names were read last during the ceremony, followed by the playing of taps.

“Those soldiers suffered a brutal death,” said Ron Crews, deputy installation chaplain. “They were dedicated young men who knew the risks in their tasks.”

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, which claimed responsibility for the killings, later said it was revenge for rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by American troops from the same unit.

• More on Iraq, page A10.

Four soldiers and one former soldier from the unit’s 2nd Brigade face charges for allegedly raping and murdering an Iraqi teenager and her family on March 12 near Mahmoudiya. Another soldier is charged with failing to report the attack.

“If those accusations prove valid, it doesn’t represent the work of the entire 101st unit,” Crews said. “That type of behavior doesn’t represent the standard we have come to expect.”

The unit is preparing to return home in coming weeks. About 450 soldiers are scheduled to arrive Friday.

The war has taken a heavy toll on the base, with 166 soldiers attached to units at the base being killed since fighting began in 2003.

Jennifer Vogt said she came to the ceremony to support family members of the soldiers. Her husband, Army Spc. Steven Vogt, was a member of the color guard.

She said the slayings of Menchaca and Tucker hit home being on the base.

“It could have happened to anyone here,” she said.

A couple hundred soldiers and civilians attended the ceremony. Outside the base, a few protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas gathered. The fundamentalist group claims soldiers are being killed in Iraq because of the nation’s acceptance of homosexuality.

Counter-protesters with the Patriot Guard Riders rode their motorcycles nearby. No incidents between the groups were reported.

AP-ES-08-09-06 2317EDT