Along with nearly 1.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq, they fought in a faraway place for people they never knew.

WHITEHOUSE: The End of the Combat Mission in Iraq

Usually, when Stafford and his team prepare the grounds for burial, it is for someone who has died in a faraway place.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The fabled city, whose names is sometimes used in the West as a synonym for a faraway place, was at the center of trans-Sahara trade in earlier times.

CNN: French, Malians seize town from Islamists