We Shouldn’t Rely on Politicians to Memorialize Our Fallen Soldiers

Gold Star Families Need to Reach out—and Communities Need to Reach Back

Five U.S. infantry soldiers died on June 21, 2007, when their 30-ton Bradley tracked vehicle hit a deep-buried bomb in Adhamiyah, Iraq.

I was embedded as a reporter with their unit when they died, and I watched as the men who served with them rallied.

They reached out to the mothers and fathers and wives, offering and seeking comfort, but also saying what they believed needed to be heard:

It was quick.
We were with them at the end.
We will never forget.

The families often reach back too, spreading wide wings over …