Hear the voice of a Marine casualty assistance calls officer - along with behind-the-scenes photos - as he undertakes the most difficult mission of his life.
Katherine Cathey was expecting a phone call from her husband, Marine 2nd. Lt. Jim Cathey, so she could tell him if their baby would be a boy or a girl. Instead, she got a knock at the door -- the knock every military family dreads.
"Thank you for this wonderful story on this Veterans day. I had to stop several times to collect myself and my thoughts. It made me appreciate what's going on right now." - Mabe5, Broomfield
They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear.
It begins with a knock at the door.
For a year, the Rocky Mountain News has followed Maj. Steve Beck as he takes on the most difficult duty of his career: casualty notification. As Beck and his comrades at Buckley Air Force Base keep constant watch over the caskets of the men they never knew, the Marines also comfort the families of the fallen, and choke back tears of their own.
It's all part of a tradition that started in 1775: Never leave a Marine behind.
After the knock on the door, the story has only begun.
To our readers
Rocky Mountain News reporter Jim Sheeler and photographer Todd Heisler spent a year with the Marines stationed at Aurora's Buckley Air Force Base who have found themselves called upon to notify families of the deaths of their sons in Iraq. In each case in this story, the families agreed to let Sheeler and Heisler chronicle their loss and grief. They wanted people to know their sons, the men and women who brought them home, and the bond of traditions more than 200 years old that unite them.
Though readers are led through the story by the white-gloved hand of Maj. Steve Beck, he remains a reluctant hero. He is, he insists, only a small part of the massive mosaic that is the Marine Corps.
Meet the writer and photographer
Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, Jim Sheeler has covered its impact at home, and the sacrifices of the military families supporting the troops in uniform. Sheeler is now a journalism instructor at the University of Colorado.
Todd Heisler's lenses reach from the deserts of Iraq - where he was embedded three times with U.S. troops - to the living rooms of Colorado, where he's followed them home. Heisler is now a staff photographer at the New York Times.
Recognition and awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Recognition
Writing awards
Online awards
Photography awards
- Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar
- World Press Photo competition
- ASNE 2006 awards
- National Headliner Awards
