The four veterans killed when a freight train barreled into the parade float they were riding on were decorated military men who served on the front lines multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They survived gunshots, explosions and grenade attacks that left some with brain injuries that slurred their speech and made it difficult to walk.

They were husbands and fathers. Soldiers and a Marine. And they made sacrifices for those they loved, including at least one who died after pushing his wife to safety.

The men had traveled to Midland, Texas, from all over the country for a hunting trip organized to honor their service and to spend a weekend with those who would understand them best - their fellow veterans.

Here's a look at them, compiled from interviews with friends and family, along with autobiographies they wrote for the website of Show of Support, the group that organized the parade and hunting trip.

Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34, was coming off a shift as a paramedic in Amarillo, Texas, when he heard about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I knew what I had to do," he wrote for Show of Support's website. "I come from a long line of military and public servants; this was my calling."

Michael also knew what to do Thursday. As the train hurtled down the tracks, he pushed his wife, Daylyn, off the float so she wasn't injured, said a close friend, Cory Rogers.

He was on his second tour of Iraq in 2005 when Daylyn gave him bad news: their daughter's tear ducts were not developing normally and she would need surgery.

Then Daylyn told him she had throat cancer.

Daylyn recovered from cancer and the couple had recently celebrated their 15th anniversary. Along with Maci, now 5, they had a son, Ryan, 14.

"We have struggled together, laughed together, cried together, but most importantly, stayed together," he wrote.

Sgt. Maj. Gary Stouffer, 37, joined the Marines in college and served in Albania, Kosovo and twice in Iraq. He was injured during a tour in Afghanistan when an IED hit his vehicle during a resupply mission.

Two years after the explosion, he was still undergoing speech and physical therapy, while waiting to find out if he had to take a medical retirement or could stay in the Marines on limited duty.

His dream was to serve for 30 years, he wrote for Show of Support. But, "after 17 awesome years, right now I will be happy to just see my way to officially retiring at 20 years."

Stouffer, who lived in Newport, Pa., also was waiting for approval for a Purple Heart. He had been married to his wife, Catherine, for 16 years and had two children, Shannon, 16, and Shane, 12.

?Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47, had started a new career with a defense contractor in North Carolina after his retirement from the Army.

He had served for 24 years, including a decade with special operations forces and tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was wounded in April 2004 while helping train Marines in Iraq. His mother, Lucette Boivin, of Fayetteville, N.C., said she had worried about him when he was overseas but not when he headed to Texas for a pleasure trip. He planned to be in the parade, go hunting and visit one of his stepdaughters before returning to North Carolina on Monday, she said.

Instead, his younger brother, Danny, a sergeant major at Fort Bragg, was sent to Texas to pick up his body, Lucette Boivin said.

Boivin's wife, Angela, an intensive care nurse, was with him in Texas. She suffered a back injury in the crash and was heavily medicated because of shock, said his niece, Felicia Wickes.

Army Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers, 43, spent 21 of his 24 years in the military with the U.S. Army Special Forces.

He was wounded in a 2005 ambush in Afghanistan, while on his second tour of duty there. Shot in the arm, he was sent back to the U.S. to recover.

He spent a month in the hospital and another 15 months in recovery at Fort Bragg, N.C., according to his autobiography for Show of Support. He had 13 surgeries.

When he was better, he went back to Afghanistan for two more tours.

Lubbers and his wife, Tiffanie, had been married for 19 years. She also was on the float and was in serious condition Friday at University Medical Center in Lubbock, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported.

The couple, who lived in Fayetteville, N.C., had two children, Zachary, 18, and Sydnie, 11.