"He would normally stay up watching TV at night because it was hard for him to sleep and I went ahead and went to bed. The next morning when I got up, I found him on the couch, he was in the same position he was in when he went to sleep and he was already gone," Layne said.

A soldier from Cross Lanes, Eric Layne left behind an 18-month old son and a baby girl on the way.

Meanwhile, Logan County resident Cheryl Endicott's son Nicholas died January 29th while being treated at a military hospital in Bethesda.

He too reportedly went to bed and never woke up.

"They told me that at 10:55, they entered his room, he was non-responsive, had no pulse so they deceased him right then and there," said Endicott.

Finally, on February 12th Stan and Shirley White lost their son Andrew, another Kanawha County service member who stopped breathing in his sleep. For the Whites, it was the second son they said goodbye too. Robert White died while serving in Afghanistan.

"You're always expecting and fearing when your children are at war that they're not going to make it back. They don't come back and lie in their bed, go to sleep and die. That doesn't happen. That's not supposed to happen," Stan White said.

Each family heard about the others' tragedies and eventually compared stories.

All three men were in their 20s, served in Iraq and died in their sleep within a three-week period, but that's only the beginning of the similarities.

Each military man was being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had started exhibiting the same strange behavior and symptoms.

"Excessive weight gain, anger management disturbed sleep patterns, tremors," White said.

The young men were each taking a number of prescription drugs before they died, but the combination they all had in common includes Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel.

Their families are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests, but say the questions don't end there.

"Are these three medications -- is there any connection with the three of them? Did those three react? Or is there some foreign substance these guys picked up overseas?" said White.

The families all live within about an hour of each other, and have now banded together for support and to search collectively for answers.

They decided to share their stories to try to prevent others from experiencing the same loss.

"It was supposed to be a new beginning for us. We had plans. We had a lot to live for," said Layne.

The families of the two marines and one soldier sent a letter to Senator Jay Rockefeller's office explaining their stories and their concerns.

A representative from Rockefeller's office says the Senator is very interested in finding out more about the situation.

The families also want to make people aware of a new organization called West Virginia Friends of Veterans that intends to help other military members and their families.

The number for that organization is (304) 881-2764. You can also e-mail wvfov@yahoo.com.

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