“I’ve been thinking about the ways politics and bureaucracy have tainted my love for this country,” she wrote. “But seeing your parents, learning about you — has shown and reminded me of the dignity, love and blessings stitched into the diverse fabric of the United States.”
Since late July, thousands of people — veterans, relatives of fallen soldiers, even those with no connection to the cemetery — have made their way to Captain Khan’s grave, deep inside the cemetery, to bear witness and offer words of support.
“We try to count the messages” left behind, Captain Khan’s father, Khizr, said in an interview on Friday. “We have exhausted number 4,000 and counted on.”
Captain Khan would have turned 40 on Friday. Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, were too busy that day to visit his grave, but on Saturday, a day before the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, they made the more than two-hour drive from their home in Charlottesville, Va., as they had countless other times.
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