Black Hawk pilots on hero missions are given first priority to land at bases. Once on the ground, soldiers from the dead soldier's unit or base often escort each body from a Humvee or an ambulance to the helicopter, at times in the blackness of night, occasionally so soon after the incident that the soldiers who are escorting them are still bloody from the attack that killed their friend.

There, an entourage of soldiers often forms two lines at the helicopter door, and the body passes between them as they give a slow salute. "The hardest part is when the helicopter takes off," said Capt. J.D. Moore, the 1-150th's chaplain, who goes on every hero mission with his unit. "The dust is swirling around those soldiers, and they're just standing at attention."

Mr. Johnston, who is from Carneys Point, N.J., keeps a record of each soldier he transported: name, unit, hometown and cause of death. He said he wanted those details so he could someday visit the soldier's family and tell them he had cared for their loved one, in some small way, when they could not be there. He often volunteers to transport the soldier's or contractor's belongings a few days later, a task called a hero effects mission.

One day in August, Mr. Johnston offered to pick up the personal effects of four soldiers killed in a roadside bombing, but he was told to wait for a general, whom he was transporting that day, to finish a meeting.

Mr. Johnston became more and more upset, insisting that picking up the soldiers' belongings should be the priority. "I'm going to call the general about this, if I have to," he told his battle captain.

Finally given the go-ahead by the general's assistant, he flew as quickly as possible to Camp Speicher to pick up 16 black plastic footlockers, eight Army green duffel bags, two folding chairs and a guitar, all of which belonged to soldiers from the First Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division of Fort Stewart, Ga.

Last names were stenciled on the ends of the duffel bags: BOUCHARD, DOYLE, FUHRMANN, SEAMANS. But the guitar case, black and battered and taped shut with green duct tape, bothered Mr. Johnston the most. On it was an America West Airlines luggage tag with Nathan Bouchard's name and his parents' address in Arizona written on it.