In the photo here, the night before the burial of her husband 2nd Lt. James Cathey of the United States Marine Corps, killed in Iraq, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of “Cat.”

The Marines, per her request, stood guard the entire time she slept there along side her fallen hero. Katherine says that she thinks that her husband would have wanted it that way.