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Critics have accused the Scout Rangers of human-rights abuses and taking bribes. Unproven reports that Rangers colluded with Abu Sayyaf and allowed the rebels to escape with the hostages have circulated widely. With criticism building against the military's inability to find the rebels, let alone rout them, military leaders gave the Scout Rangers approval for Operation Daybreak, a plan to rescue the hostages.

Though the rebels reportedly had massive funds and a confounding ability to avoid capture ("They're either magicians or the Philippine military is lying," lamented one member of the Burnham family), they did not make it hard for the 37 Rangers to locate them in the jungle. Soldiers easily followed the trail of footprints, pieces of coconut meat, a cloth stained with blood, and other discarded items. The soldiers suddenly spotted Abu Sayyaf's camp through the heavy rainfall and dense foliage. "Bull's-eye, sir," one scout radioed his commanders. "We've located the group."

Exactly what happened next is disputed. Some soldiers say they were unaware of hostages. Others say they planned the operation carefully to keep the hostages safe. All agree that the Rangers fired first, apparently because the rebels had spotted them.

Martin and Gracia rolled out of their hammock at the first sound of gunfire, just as their missionary security training had taught them to do. They slid down a steep hill together, until Gracia grabbed a tree branch. She had been shot in the leg. Martin, still lying next to her, had been hit in the chest.

The fighting continued, by Gracia's estimation, for about 20 minutes. Others say it went on for as long as three hours. "Of course, she wasn't looking at a watch," says Doug Burnham, Martin's brother. She wasn't looking at much else, either, continuing to keep her head down as taught. As the guns fell silent, she looked up. Martin was dead. Yap, she soon discovered, had also been killed in the firefight.

When Scout Ranger Rodelio Tuazon reached the Burnhams, Martin's body partially covered his wife's. Some of the Scout Rangers were taking off to pursue the rebels. "Please don't leave me behind," a quietly weeping Gracia said to Tuazon. She then asked if the leader Sabaya was among the four rebels killed in the firefight. He was not, though soldiers did find his trademark sunglasses.

Four days and many hours of air travel later, Gracia was reunited with her family and children, as more than 1,000 people crowded the main street of Rose Hill, Kansas, welcoming her home.

"I think this must be one of the happiest moments of my whole life," Gracia said after hugging her children and other family members. "We want everyone to know that God was good to us every single day of our captivity. Martin was also a source of strength to all the hostages. He was a good man, and he died well."

"It's not the kind of reunion we were hoping for," said Doug Burnham. "We're one short." But the family is grateful to have Gracia back, he said, showing reluctance to second-guess the military action.

A few days earlier on the first anniversary of the Burnhams' captivity, family members, New Tribes Mission leaders, and others working to free the captives had expressed strong frustration. "They've been down there how long? And they still don't know where they're at?" lamented Martin's father.

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June (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46