>> bill shea: well, i come most every day and just have a little chat with tim. >> pelley: ten years ago, at tim's funeral, mary noticed women she had never seen before. >> mary shea: where did these people come from, and why are they here? why do they care? >> pelley: the strangers were blue star moms, including nancy totman. >> pelley: how many of these funerals have you been to? >> nancy totman: 42 funerals. and each one is difficult. it just rips your heart out to know that another family, their life, their normal, is never the same. >> deb saunders: i can think of a couple of parents right off hand >> pelley: deb saunders understood their isolation. >> saunders: you can express your sympathy, but you cannot empathize with someone unless you're walking in their shoes and that's what i knew, we had folks together, that they were better equipped in their journey to help one another. >> pelley: to gather the gold stars, deb saunders reached out to a tough old leatherneck, retired marine major general mike myatt, the president and c.e.o. of the marines' memorial association. >> mike m