Both lost family members in the conflict. Mazen's father was killed by an Israeli soldier while walking home from the grocery store.
VOA: standard.2009.12.12
Apart from the airport ceremonies that are attended by senior officers, the motorcade to the soldier's home town evokes strong sentiments of an appreciative nation - no-one seems to bother about how lowly the soldier's rank was - his death at the front line had raised him into the ranks of the venerated.
Mr McCarthy, an ex-drug dealer and former soldier, also said that when he met Mr Snowden two days after the fatal fire at the Sharkey's home, he established that Mr Snowden was allegedly responsible.