SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The war with Iran is now entering its fourth week, with a reported 313 service members wounded and 13 killed since the conflict began. One of those killed, Robert Marzan of Sacramento, was recently laid to rest.
For more than 20 years, veteran Chaplain Norris Burkes of Nevada County gave support to military personnel. He says he was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and has also delivered roughly 30 death notices to military families, something he says never gets easier and is different each time.
“It’s being unafraid of the silence,” Burkes said. “It’s trying to be comfortable with the tears and the crying. It’s about trying to say the right words. You can certainly say the wrong words. But there are, and there are a few people that just want the information.”…