Ranger, had gone as a security contractor to train Iraqi soldiers. When that contract ended in late 2003, he signed on with a different company, Blackwater, according to his mother.

For Scott Helvenston, Iraq was just the final chapter of a colorful career for the former Navy SEAL, a life that included a job as a stuntman and consultant for Hollywood films. On the set of 1997's "G.I. Jane," shot in Jacksonville, Florida, Helvenston put Demi Moore through a rigorous training program, his mother said, even managing to grab a small role as an extra.

A divorced father of two, Helvenston told his mother he would return from Iraq in two months, she said.

"He was going to go over there and make a bunch of money and come back andgive it to his ex-wife," she said.

Zovko and Helvenston-Wettengel have become close friends in the years since the tragedy, but on this anniversary, the two mothers will not be together to share their support and grief with each other.

"Traveling is getting to be troublesome for us both," said Zovko, who plans to remain near her home in Bratenahl, Ohio, to attend morning and evening masses at Cleveland's St. Paul Croatian Church. Helvenston-Wettengel also said she plans to attend church Tuesday in her hometown of Leesburg, Florida.

Legal setbacks

As for the families' wrongful death lawsuit against Blackwater, a federal judge in 2007 ordered that the case be taken out of the courts to be decided by a three-member arbitration panel.

Senior U.S. District Judge James Fox sent the case to arbitration