Best Friends Side-By-Side At Arlington

ARLINGTON COUNTY, Virginia (CBS) - Two best friends who lost their lives while serving their country now share a final resting place at a hallowed burial site.

Though they died years apart, the families of Travis Manion of Doylestown and Brendan Looney of Maryland decided they should be buried side-by-side at Arlington National Cemetery.

Manion and Looney were roommates at the US Naval Academy. Three years ago, Manion, 26, was killed in Iraq trying to help members of his Marine unit.

He was buried in West Conshohocken, but his sister, Ryan Manion Borek, says he told her that if anything happened to him, he really wanted to be at Arlington.

She says those plans became more immediate when they got the news about Looney being killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan in September.

"We're personally just distraught over it and feel so much for the Looney family. And again, we hope that people understand the sacrifices that young men and women are making every day for our country."

She says Looney took her brother's death very hard and dedicated his training to become a Navy SEAL to Travis' memory.

Brendan Looney's younger brother said Monday that the side-by-side burial will help both families "sleep easy at night."