Browse Items (1472 total)

LAURENS, SOUTH CAROLINA, 2008. Having worked a series of going-nowhere jobs, Clinton Keels’s dream was to escape the clutches of a small town and serve in a combat infantry platoon. After that, Clint confesses, “You’re always scared.” Since…

LANDOVER, MARYLAND, 2007. As hymnal music played, Princess’s loved ones—mother, husband, brother, grandparents, uncles, cousins, closest friends—moved down the aisle past the coffin in a line that stretched from the back of the church. An…

LANDOVER, MARYLAND, 2007. There was some discussion as to whether the coffin holding Princess was to be left open or closed. Then, with great solemnity, the flag was folded back and the lid raised. Despite the uniform and military decorations…

LANDOVER, MARYLAND, 2007. The body of Army Sgt. Princess C. Samuels lies in an open coffin in her family church in Landover, Maryland. An imagery specialist, she was killed by what the military called “indirect fire” in Taji, Iraq—one of more…

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, 2007. Mike, who served a thirteen-month tour in Al-Rashidiya and Baquaba, Iraq, received a general discharge after being both lauded as a hero for saving lives and disciplined for drug abuse. Since returning from Iraq, he has…

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, 2007. Michael Harmon, 24, a former combat medic with the U.S. Army, shares a small apartment with his grandmother, his mother, and his stepfather in Brooklyn, New York. While in Iraq, he was credited with saving the lives of his…

COLUMBUS, OHIO, 2006. Mona stands alone, outside of security, watching from a distance as her son Jeremy walks to his boarding gate. She waves with one hand, then both, until he is out of sight.

MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, 2006. After donning his uniform, Jeremy Hagy slips into the bedroom and kisses his sleeping children goodbye. “It’s time to go,” his mother calls out, struggling to control her emotions. Mona will be the one driving him to…

MOUNT VERNON, OHIO, 2006. Mona Parsons, 52, is nearly overcome with worry about her son, Jeremy Hagy, who is scheduled to return to his unit in Iraq early the following morning. Jeremy had been sitting alone in the kitchen when his wife, sister, and…

WALPOLE, MASSACHUSETTS, 2006. Immediately after being told of his son’s death, Carlos had asked the Marines delivering the news to leave his home. Then, desperate and overcome with grief, he set the military van on fire. Five years later, with…