When the battlefields fall silent and the wisps of smoke from fired rifles dissipate, the tasks are far from done. Bodies of the fallen are gathered to be returned to their families for a final farewell. Since the nation's birth, about 1.2 million people have given their lives for the United States during its major wars — more than half a million since World War II.
The families of those who serve dread that knock on the door, that letter, that phone call, telling them a loved one will not be coming home. Funeral services offer a chance for these grieving loved ones — who, in a way serve with those in combat — to make peace with their losses, themselves and God.
Thousands of families have been left waiting, with no body to bury, no grave to weep on, no answers.
The military continues to piece together the last moments of 88,000 troops, many of them prisoners of war or missing in action from World War II on, whose remains have never been recovered.
In June the Department of Defense released a database with the names, though not the hometowns, of the nearly 78,000 of them who fought in World War II. For families it offers a starting point for the truth.
Nine service members from Frederick County who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars are still unaccounted for.
The Frederick News-Post brings you their stories.
