After seven years of war, about $1 trillion dollars spent, more than 4,400 American lives lost, and over 100,000 Iraqi deaths, the United States has formally ended its combat operations in Iraq. We hear from people who fought in the war and lost loved ones there. June Davis of Grand Rapids, Mich. lost her son Pfc. Billy Davis in 2007 to a roadside bomb in Iraq. Also joining us is Seth Moulton, a former Marine captain who went on four tours of duty to Iraq and worked for Gen. David Petraeus.

President Obama is opening a new round of Mideast peacemaking, bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for talks aimed at forging agreement within one year on a two-state solution: a sovereign Palestine and a secure Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are in Washington for preparatory talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. They meet directly tomorrow. Ethan Bronner of the New York Times joins us from Jerusalem to preview the talks.

The 75th annual Shrimp & Petroleum Festival kicks off this weekend in the small town of Morgan City, La. You would think, after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, it would not be a time to honor the oil industry. That's not the thinking in the shrimp and oil industry town of Morgan City, which is also celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. We speak with Nelson Cortez, a longtime volunteer at the festival and a past festival king.

When WBUR reporter Curt Nickisch was in middle school, he sent away for a random POW/MIA bracelet issued by an awareness program for soldiers Missing in Action from the Vietnam war. The bracelet he got was engraved with the name of 1st Lt. Paul G. Magers, whose helicopter went down in 1971 and whose body was never recovered. Until last summer. Magers' remains were ultimately identified, and last week his family and friends in Billings, Mont. held long awaited funeral and memorial services for him. Nickisch attended the funeral and tells us about his experience.

Pulitzer Prize winning book critic Gail Caldwell and best-selling author Caroline Knapp had a deep friendship that was cut short when Caroline died of lung cancer in 2002. Now, Gail writes about their bond in a new book. Robin Young talks to Gail about "Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship."

• Four Tet, "Slowjam"
• Men at Work, "Down by the Sea"
• The Lickets, "Crowd of Pimps in the Rain"
• Pat Metheny, “In Her Family”