The James John Regan whose tombstone is in the picture was killed Feb. 9, 2007 by an IED during Iraqi Freedom. He was a Ranger. I suspect the distraught young lady is his fiance, Mary McHugh or one of his three sisters.
I mention these things not to intrude on anyone’s private grief or out of any morbid curiosity, but to point out — to myself as much as anyone — that these are not just marble markers —gardens of stone — but the final resting places of very real Americans who risked the pain and sacrifice necessary to keep our land our own.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
In humble gratitude to all of you, from an unworthy beneficiary ...