This is one of the hardest pieces of journalism that I’ve written in a long time. As it appears online, the family members of a friend of mine — Sgt. Ian McConnell, 24 — are traveling today from Camp Pendleton, Calif., to his hometown in Woodbury, Minn. They’re preparing for his funeral at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, a U.S. cemetery in nearby Minneapolis. It’s common that when a person dies with most of his or her life seemingly ahead of them, friends and family create online memorials. Ian is no different. His sister, Meg, posted one on Facebook over the…