WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA — Donna Burhans, 67, goes on solitary walks around her family's 35-acre farm in Winter Haven, Florida, and tends to her garden as she copes with the death of her son, Maj. Cody Khork, who was killed March 1 when a drone struck a port in Kuwait. Khork, 35, was one of 13 Americans killed in the U.S. war with Iran, and five other Army reservists died in the same attack, which came on the second day of the conflict.

On the farm, Burhans talks aloud about her son in the company of the property's cows, horses, dogs, cats and pigs. "They're good listeners." Burhans said.

Khork held the rank of captain in the Army Reserve at the time of his death and was posthumously promoted to major. He had carried out deployments in Poland, Saudi Arabia, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Kuwait. His mother said he had hoped to take a job in the Pentagon.

Khork's father was a Marine, and Khork grew up on military bases. As a child, he admired air shows and crawled through helicopters parked on the bases, his mother said. His childhood nickname was "Twig," she said, and he was skinny enough to hide behind a telephone pole during paintball games.

Khork left behind a fiancée, who his mother said was his first romantic partner. "I'm thankful for that — that he got to experience true love with a woman." Burhans said.

"He was a hero. I'm so proud of him." she said.

Burhans spoke to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a dignified transfer ceremony in Dover, Delaware, last month. She told them she did not want her son to die needlessly and that she hoped they would continue prosecuting the war. "Trump knows what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he's doing everything the way it's supposed to be done," Burhans said. "I have my trust in him and God."

The war with Iran has since paused while negotiators try to reach a peace deal. Florida Southern College in Lakeland has established an ROTC scholarship in Khork's memory.