Charles Simmons holds a collage of photos of his son, one of six airmen killed in a March 2026 military aircraft crash in Iraq, in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. Simmons is one of many people newly navigating mixed feelings of grief, pride and anger, and a yearning for answers about the deaths of their relatives in a war that has left at least 23 service members dead and nearly 900 injured. “Veterans Day is very different now,” he said. (Maddie McGarvey/The By CHRISTINA MORALES…
