But the men's grief was understandable: The town had come to an end. The night before, they were forced to leave behind five children and a house, their only source of income. As it turned out, the town's mayor had died in a car crash days earlier. The city's mayor was, needless to say, a former Marine.

But their mother, who had survived the plane crash, said she couldn't bear the thought of seeing her former town's mayor, whose name is Chris. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing a veteran. She simply could not bear that the men would die. They were the same men she had just told.

Her daughter, Linda, was devastated. After a long pause, "I know they loved us," she replied, "and I know they wanted something from us." It was the saddest part of the phone call, but in essence she was saying she didn't think things had been great between her daughter and the people of Manti.

Linda's son and oldest nephew are dead, but the two other sons—all of whom she had worked with since high school—are still in school. Linda's own older nephew, Ryan, is going to play football