Jamie Dorff’s husband, Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Dorff (top left, and below with Jamie and daughter Brisa), determined early on that he would follow in the footsteps of his father, former Marine Roger Dorff, by flying a helicopter for his country. Patrick, also a helicopter instructor with the Army, had been stationed in Mosul for just two months when he died on January 25, 2004. The Kiowa helicopter he was flying across the Tigris River with Lt. Adam Mooney got entangled in cable and crashed, killing both men. A 13-year veteran of the military, Patrick and his co-pilot were searching for a soldier whose boat had capsized when the accident occurred.

• "My son felt there is a reason why we are in Iraq, and I feel we should finish the war," said Sharon Dorff, who came to see the boots of her son Patrick, who died in Iraq in January 2004. She came with her husband, Roger, and with Patrick's widow, Jamie. They left a photo on Patrick's boots of a beaming Patrick, holding his daughter, Brisa, on his lap. Brisa will be 5 in October. "This is very touching, very honorable," Sharon Dorff said. "That's why we're here." Minneapolis Star Tribune, 9/30/05