It has been posted on numerous blogs, web sites, and social media pages, made into tattoos and postcards, and has even been included in multiple Memorial Day messages posted by the rock band KISS. Marine Corps has been widely shared online (often without attribution) in the ensuing years. That photograph was later released by the U.S. I grabbed my camera and happened to catch the photo you see. Coincidentally, it was my husband’s turn to take down the flag and perform the evening colors ceremony. My husband’s unit was the base air traffic control unit. After the war began, I was escorting media, and we flew into a desert airfield in southern Iraq. We were from different units, so we weren’t sent to the same places. He always used to joke that he gave me six months of all the sun and sand a girl could want on a honeymoon. Two days later, he left for Kuwait and I deployed shortly thereafter. I was totally on the spot, but I said yes. I remember him saying, we don’t know what will happen once we get over there and he did not want to miss the opportunity to have me for his wife. They met James for the first time, and without any prior discussion, James looked at my father and told him he would like to marry me. In January 2003, my parents made a trip to San Diego to see me one last time before I deployed to Iraq. We became the best of friends, crying on each other’s shoulders over other relationships, and eventually became romantically involved. ![]() We met through a mutual friend who knew I was getting stationed in San Diego and suggested I contact him. I had two failed marriages before I met James. A photograph of the moment was captured by his wife, Marine Sgt. Valrie saluted a United States flag flying over a desert airfield in southern Iraq at sunset.
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