The Final Salute
 Book Release

Rocky Mountain News reporter Jim Sheeler and photographer Todd Heisler spent the past year with the Marines stationed at Aurora's Buckley Air Force Base who have found themselves called upon to notify families of the deaths of their sons in Iraq. In each case in this story, the families agreed to let Sheeler and Heisler chronicle their loss and grief. They wanted people to know their sons, the men and women who brought them home, and the bond of traditions more than 200 years old that unite them.

Though readers are led through the story by the white-gloved hand of Maj. Steve Beck, he remains a reluctant hero. He is, he insists, only a small part of the massive mosaic that is the Marine Corps.

They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear.

It begins with a knock at the door.

Final Salute
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/
 

Brought home by his best friend, lost medic unites perfect strangers

The skinny sailor sat in the Philadelphia airport terminal in his deep-blue dress uniform, cracking his knuckles, shifting in his seat, waiting for his best friend.

Bringing "Doc" Home
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5216457,00.html
 

Oglala Sioux bestow a lasting tribute - a name - to first tribal fatality in Iraq

Inside their rental car, two Marines from Colorado stared out at the road, winding through the rolling brown grass of the desolate Badlands.

Wake for an Indian warrior
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4405009,00.html
 

Wake for an Indian warrior part II

Lakota Sioux mourn a son, pray for Eddy - a 'Fiery Star'

Nearly a year after brother dies in Iraq, only sibling chooses to go back to war

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5135682,00.html

  I found the above articles both informative and difficult reading.  All braches of our military have greatly improved their approach in notifying the next of kin when a solder or sailor has fallen.  I could not read the full sequence without taking several breaks to keep my composure.  The stories give the reader a glimpse of many of those that are affected by the loss of a solder or sailor in war.

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