AND I SEE THIS 4TH MEANS MORE TO SOME PARENTS AS WELL.

"Our sons and daughters are serving so that we can keep celebrating the Fourth of July, and it's just ... emotional for us to talk about it, because we're so proud," said Anderson's Janine Compton, mother of two sons stationed in the Middle East. "We've always been patriotic, but now it's even more so."

Compton, like thousands of parents across the country, will celebrate the United States' independence without her only children -- Christopher Compton, 30, stationed in Iraq, and Bradley Compton, 27, stationed in Kuwait.

"We're a pretty patriotic family, and we have always celebrated the Fourth of July and had strong feelings about it," said their father, Rod Compton, 56. "They're away and we're thinking of that."

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