Katherine Cathey and 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey. (A moving photo essay on the true cost of freedom)

Todd Heisler’s Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographic Series At the first sight of her husband’s flag-draped casket, Katherine Cathey broke into uncontrollable sobs, finding support in the arms of Major Steve Beck. When Beck first knocked on her door in Brighton, Colorado, to notify her of her husband’s death, she glared at him, cursed him, and refused to speak to him for more than an hour. Over the next several days, he helped guide her through the grief. By the time they reached the tarmac, she wouldn’t let go. Minutes after her husband’s casket arrived at the Reno airport, Katherine Cathey...