Perspective: Mission of Marines' parents -- to cope

ST. LOUIS — Patricia Fry, whose son is a Marine infantryman, was explaining the fine art of creating a scrapbook to Rita Swift, whose son is a Marine helicopter pilot.

"I think the blue looks great because it brings out the blue in the flag," Fry told Swift as she arranged a picture of her son, Maj. Mike Swift, on a page in her book.

The scrapbooks have a dual purpose: They keep parents busy during the anxious days of their son's or daughter's deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. And, should the worst happen, the scrapbooks will be a memorial to a lost loved one.

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