The picture in the wallet

I wish I knew what happened to the picture in the wallet. It disappeared a few years ago under unknown circumstances

For years, when my kids were young, I carried it, prepared to pull it out should they ever try to glorify war. They never did.

This is what war looks like.

© John Francis Ficara

It stayed in the wallet for more than 18 years, until 2009, when I unfolded it for another look on Memorial Day weekend, and asked Twitter and NewsCut readers to find the family. Within minutes, they did. Then I did.

It’s the family of Capt. Jack Edwards, the first American killed in the first Gulf war.

I’ve written about it a few times over the years; every now and again — usually around the anniversary of Capt. Edwards’ death — I hear from the little kids in the picture, or fellow service members of the Captain.

As of this morning, I have written 16,057 NewsCut posts since starting the blog. None of them has reached so deeply into the hearts of individuals as the original post about the picture. None keeps coming back to life like that one.

Today, I heard from another person whose life was changed by a war and a death that too many others have forgotten: the man who buried Captain Edwards.