Lee and Cathy Mayne of Burlington Flats, New York have never met Khizr and Ghazala Khan, but the parents have something significant in common: Their sons, Cpl. Michael Mayne and Capt. Humayun Khan, both soldiers in the United States Army, were killed in action in Iraq.

Mayne was killed along with two other soldiers on Feb. 23, 2009 when they came under small arms fire. He was 21. Khan was killed by a suicide bomber about five years earlier at the age of 27.

The Maynes and the Khans are Gold Star families — those that have lost loved ones in war. And the pain never goes away, they have said.

One major difference, however, separates the two families. While the Khans have openly said they feel that Donald Trump is unfit to serve as president, the Maynes are inclined to vote for the GOP nominee because they believe he is “the lesser of two evils,” according to Cathy.

“I’m leaning towards Trump at the moment,” she said, though her mind could be changed. “Who knows what’s going to happen between now and Election Day?” she added.

Mayne said her husband, Lee, believes the media is “totally behind Hillary and finding as much as they can to make Trump look bad.”

The Khans, Pakistani Americans, have made headlines nationwide this week after appearing on stage during the Democratic National Convention. Khizr Khan criticized Trump for proposing to temporarily freeze the entry of foreign Muslims into the U.S. and asserted the billionaire has made no sacrifices for his country. 

Trump responded by insisting he has made sacrifices and questioning why Ghazala Khan did not speak on stage, which she later said was because she was too bereaved. 

“I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” Trump told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos during the Sunday political affairs television program. “I’ve worked very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs — tens of thousands of jobs. … I have raised millions of dollars for the vets.”

Both families said they took offense at Trump equating his business endeavors to the sacrifices made by slain military officers and their families. 

“I think Trump owes Gold Star families an apology for his comments,” Cathy Mayne told The Oneonta, New York Daily Star on Tuesday. “I don’t know what he has done — what kind of sacrifices he has made — but nothing compares to losing a son.”

Some of America’s other Gold Star families have demanded that Trump apologize, and prominent leaders on both sides of the aisle have spoken out against Trump. But the Khans say they don’t want an apology.

“I don’t want to hear from him and I don’t want to say anything to him,” Ghazala Khan said on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.

Trump has never served in the military, receiving medical and education deferments during the Vietnam War era, according to The Associated Press. On Wednesday, he told the news media that a veteran approached him before a Tuesday rally in Virginia and gave him a Purple Heart, which he received for being wounded in combat.

Trump said he was “honored” to receive it and then joked “I always wanted to get a Purple Heart. This was much easier.”

Michael Mayne — a cavalry scout — served with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, and was based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The pain of his death is “always there, but you learn to live with it,” his mother, Cathy, said.

“It’s a new normal,” she said. “You do your best and you have family and friends, and that helps. Our two grandchildren, they have helped fill the hole.”

Giving one’s life to the nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by that of Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard, Veterans of Foreign Wars commander Brian Duffy said in a statement Monday. The VFW won’t tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right to free speech, he said.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said that while the Republican Party has bestowed upon Trump the nomination, “it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.”

President Barack Obama addressed the Disabled American Veterans’ annual conference in Atlanta on Monday.

“No one — no one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families,” Obama said. “They continue to inspire us every day, every moment.”

Cathy Mayne said her son’s legacy is still very much alive. A youth turkey hunt is held every spring in honor of Mayne, who was an avid hunter and member of the junior rifle club, she said. An annual scholarship at a local school is given in his name for a graduating senior entering the military, and a courtesy room for traveling families will soon be installed at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport in his memory, she said.

One of Michael Mayne’s greatest accomplishments, his Eagle Scout project, is still benefiting his community, his mother said. As a young man in 2003, Mayne unveiled seven flags and flagpoles for each branch of the military at his hometown park.

After his death, a convoy carrying Mayne’s casket, escorted by Army Honor Guard members, passed through a crowd of more than 275 people on its way to a local funeral home. The gymnasium at Edmeston Central School was full for his funeral.

The flags Mayne had installed just six years earlier flew at half-staff.

“Little did he know,” Cathy Mayne said, “that it would be so ironic.”

Reynolds writes for the Oneonta, New York Daily Star.