those families. like the mother we spoke with whose son was shot down in a helicopter over iraq. >> you see a young man and you think, oh, that's him, you know? i live in the country now and i see a helicopter going over, that could have been him flying. >> reporter: every grave here is a different story. every story is very personal. we've seen people leave something like a cap of a beer bottle on a grave which means something to that family. we saw people celebrating with toasts of champagne and others very, very somber, crying at the grave. it's a very, very personal, personal experience. because these wars in iraq and afghanistan are so recent, there's no national memorial like world war ii or veterans. so because this cemetery is so close to the nation's capital, especially on a day like memorial day, this has become