Ed Boran was in high school during the Vietnam War, and he wanted to become a Marine. His sophomore year in college, he told his mother, and she cried. Boran didn’t have to go to war—he had an exemption because his father had passed away. His brother, who had served in the Army, had also passed away. But a few months later, she came back with a Catholic medal with an enameled red, white, and blue border that bore the words “Sea, Air, Land” and said he could join.
“I haven’t taken it off since,” Boran said.
