The New York Times Magazine: One Day in May

As this magazine goes to press, the Names of the Dead has run 142 times in this newspaper this year, listing members of the U.S. military killed in the Iraq and Afghan wars. This appeared on May 17. Interviews were conducted by Bruce Wallace.

AMARU AGUILAR
Told by Soli Aguilar, Amarus older sister.
I know specifically one time he almost gave my poor mom a heart attack. He didnt tell us he was coming home, because he loved to surprise us. He just showed up to the house, and hes like, O.K., lets go pick up Mom at work. And Im like, Does she even know youre here? And hes like: No! But dont tell her. I wanna surprise her! So we went to pick up my mom. Were sitting outside, and we can see my mom is coming with, like, some packages. Obviously she was going to put them in the trunk of the car. And he goes to me, Soli, open the trunk. And Im like, What for? Hes like: Dont worry about it! Just open the trunk! He got himself inside the trunk, closed the door so that when my mother came and opened the trunk, he popped out. All I see are boxes flying, and I see my mom grabbing her heart like Huh, trying to breathe. She went from seven different shades of blue and gray and purple. I was like: Oh, my God, he killed her! Mom! But afterward my mom was laughing. Thats the thing, when he did something, she was fine, my mom laughed. But when we did something? It was like . . . you could tell he was her favorite child, he got away with things.

Burton, that was stupid hed never use it. But when he called in the airstrike, that was what he used. So he went back to Mrs. Burtons fourth-grade class and had to say: Uh, I was wrong. Latitude and longitude actually saved a lot of peoples lives. He went to her class and talked to the kids and told them they could do anything they set their hearts on, they could change the world around them.

BENJAMIN PALMER
Told by Maj. Derrick Carter, who trained under Palmer, a lieutenant
He was what we consider the hammer. He was the executive officer. And one day I was giving him Ill be mindful of my language as I communicate I was giving him a line because, at the unit we were at, there were designated parking spots for the leadership. And I saw him pull up in a minivan. And it just struck me. I just got to ribbing him good-naturedly. I said: Hey sir, thats awfully nice. Where do you keep the soccer balls? Sir, is this a soccer-dad van instead of a soccer-mom van? You know, just making little . . . I was just picking at him about that. I think I said something else about the minivan later when we were in the office too. So at some point he just said, Grab your cover, which is what we call our hats in the Marine Corps, were going outside. We went outside, and he proceeded to give me the entire running tour of the minivan. A very slow, very deliberate and very detailed explanation of each feature the minivan had. He showed me the remote-controlled door. He showed me the navigation system. He showed me how the seats fold down for extra storage. He was getting into nauseating detail about it and after about 10, 15 minutes, I was like, Sir, I get it. He was like, What do you get? Stop teasing you about the minivan. He was like: Oh, no, no, were going for a ride. Get in. Youre driving. So we drove off, and then we just turned toward a conversation on life. Hows your son doing? And it wasnt so much Hows your son doing, because any officer or leader can say, Hows your son doing? But he called my son by his name. Hows Meko doing? Hows your wife doing? And it wasnt just your wife. It was Kim. colonel.

KEVIN BALDUF
Told by Kyle Balduf, Kevins twin brother.
Kevin was in Afghanistan and out on patrol. He wasnt supposed to go from what I understand. The guy that was supposed to go was sick, so Kevin got sent on the patrol instead. And while they were out on the patrol, a pretty big gang of Taliban fighters opened fire on them. Kevin had to call in an airstrike, which takes a certain level of training that he hadnt had yet. He said, I picked up the map and did the best I could. But he was able to call in coordinates, and a few fighter jets came in and did the rest of the job. He called in the coordinates well, and he saved quite a few people that day. Kevin got the Bronze Star for it. And the funny thing is, when Kevin was in fourth grade, learning latitude and longitude, he told his teacher, Mrs.

Published December 25, 2011