HAWTHORNE, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - Tears from the sister of Mason Vanderwork are hard to listen to - as his mother, Melissa, talks about why he joined the marines in the first place.
"I was very proud of my son. He did this for me, to make me proud," she said.
Monday night's training exercise explosion left behind hundreds of family and friends to make sense of it all after seven Marines like Vanderwork were killed.
"He was a fantastic kid. It's obviously a terrible loss, a terrible tragedy," Justin Axel said of his friend Roger Muchnick.
While most still search for answers some are coming terms with the tragedy by letting the public know about their loved ones.
“It happens. Unfortunately it was my son and six other American heroes,” Dad William Wild said about his son Taylor. “Taylor was a great kid, a hero. He's the best."
Great kids who just wanted to start their adult lives by serving their country.
