Powerful story at cnn.com yesterday. Sad but moving account of the death of Spc. Stephan Mace. CNN focused on his mother's loving act of traveling with his body on the last leg of his return trip home - from Dover, DE to Purcellville, VA. She said, "I brought him into this world, and he was my baby. I thought it was my responsibility as a mother to bring him home."

Stephan was killed in the massacre on October 3 at a remote American outpost in Afghanistan, an outpost scheduled to be closed because of its dangerous location. Closed too late for the 8 soldiers killed there. He was buried last week in Arlington with full military honors.

CNN included, at the end of the story but not in the headline, the powerful account of Mace's faith, even as he died. Here are the words from the article. Powerful stuff.

Mace was awarded six medals for his service, including a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. But for his mother, the most precious is the medal of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, that her son wore into battle.

She gave him the medal when he was 15 and preparing for a trip to South Africa. Now, after speaking to one of Mace's friends who survived the outpost attack, Adelson knows her son reached for that medal in his last moments. She was told that in his last moments alive, Mace took off his medal and gave it to his fellow soldiers.

"That's how Stephan was," Adelson said. "Here this kid is dying, and he was more worried about the other soldiers that he took his St. Christopher off and gave it to them."

She has also learned her son lived for about half an hour after sustaining wounds to the chest and leg. Adelson finds this detail comforting.

"I'm glad Stephan didn't die right away because he was allowed to give that one gift to his unit and give them the St. Christopher and that he also was able to feel God come to him and take him away," she said. "That he was able to ponder and have a last chance, a last moment, to think about his family and have God take him."