He had gone to the marathon to honor his dead sons. By
the end of the day, Carlos Arredondo was a hero — the guy in the cowboy hat pictured
helping a man in a wheelchair whose legs had been blown off.

Here’s how Michael Daly of The Daily Beast described the situation:

“Arredondo remained at the scene, still wearing buttons
bearing photos of his two sons that he had affixed to the chest of his
sweatshirt before coming to the race. The older one, Alexander, had been just
20 when he was killed serving with the Marines in Iraq. The younger son, Brian,
subsequently hanged himself.

“The marathon is on Patriots’ Day, and Arredondo had
come to hand out American flags in the memory of his sons and the others who
have lost their lives as result of the war on terror that was supposed to help
keep us safe. ‘I hand out 200!’ he reported.

“He
had only one flag left when the bombs went off, and it had become soaked in
blood as he helped the young man. ‘Look at the flag,
all bleeding,’ Arredondo said.”

*****

The death of 8-year-old Martin Richard is made all the
more tragic by the details.

He came to watch his father run the marathon and waited on
the sidelines. As Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen describes the scene: “He
had gone out to hug his dad after he crossed the finish line. The dad walked
on; the boy went back to the sidewalk to join his mom and his little sister.
And then the bomb went off. The boy was killed. His sister’s leg was blown off.
His mother was badly injured. 
“That’s just one ­family, one story.”