Final Salute.
Denver.RockyMountainNews.com
April 26, 2006
Excerpt:
When 2nd Lt. Jim Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: "See the people in the windows? They'll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should."
At the first sight of her husband's flag-draped casket, Katherine Cathey broke into uncontrollable sobs, finding support in the arms of Maj. Steve Beck. When Beck first knocked on her door in Brighton to notify her of her husband's death, she glared at him, cursed him, and refused to speak to him for more than an hour. Over the next several days, he helped guide her through the grief. By the time they reached the tarmac, she wouldn't let go.
The night before the burial of her husband, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to him for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that would have been played at a formal wedding they never held. She asked the Marines to continue standing watch. "I think that's what he would have wanted," she said.
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/
This is a sad and powerful story worth reading, it reminds us of the sacrifices and the other side to the Cindy Sheehans we don't get to see.
The authors and cameraman won the Pulitzer prize for the story. These are just excerpts to read the entire 12 pages click on the Link.