“He hasn’t told me a lot, but I think he has been through a lot,” Karr said. “I doubt he is going to want to go camping anytime soon.”

She said that when Finnigan entered Baghdad he was welcomed by cheering onlookers and old ladies handing out flowers to the Americans.

According to his sister Ellen Finnigan—who was recently promoted to company commander—is now part of the effort to reconstitute the local police force in the area where he is stationed.

“He’s been exercising, reading, studying and patrolling the streets,” said Ellen Finnigan, 25. “He is dying for news.”

Finnigan’s younger brother, Tom Finnigan, 24, is also a Marine and he too is in Kuwait. He is with a Civil Affairs Group—working with Iraqi civilians to rebuild the country.

Timothy and Cindi Finnigan said that having their two sons in combat was very difficult.

“We never imagined we would have two sons involved in a war action,” they wrote.

—Staff writer Yailett Fernandez can be reached at yfernand@fas.harvard.edu.