VOA - A. PhillipsMarco Torres mourns three men in his squad, who were killed in a road ambush near Kabul, Afghanistan.

Marco Torres mourns three men in his squad, who were killed in a road ambush near Kabul, Afghanistan.

One of those men, Sgt. McKay, was like a big brother to him. "When I had problems…he'd always lend an ear, and being that he was of age, he had a lot of experience."

Torres was flattered that McKay revealed a bit of his own life to him. "He was a parent. He was a marathon bike runner. He was a business owner of a garage and he was real tight with his family. He liked what he did."

Torres recalls the cheerful personality of another fellow squad member named Palmateer, who was killed in the same ambush.

"He was always trying to get the guys motivated and… he was just always funny. We always had a blast."

When asked whether he would be remembering his fallen comrades-in arms this Memorial Day, he nodded sadly "Yeah, them and a lot of other guys."

To hear many vets tell it, compassion and kindness co-exist with courage and grit on the battlefield.

Sgt. Carde, who was wounded in Iraq, is at the VA hospital today being treated for depression following the death of a dear comrade. "This guy…tried to do something for the unit. He gave me coffee in the morning. He took care of the soldiers."

Carde says he doesn't expect to ever meet another person who will equal that man's kindness and vows never to forget him, or the honorable way he died in combat.