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| Emotional farewell to a soldier |
| 2006-05-22 |
| BRUNSWICK — The drum beat came to an end moments before Nancy Kelly carried the processional cross into St. Paul's Episcopal church. She marched into the funeral ceremony between rows of bikers in leather, tribal drummers in traditional dress, and representatives of the Army, the Air Force and the Boy Scouts in uniform. The mixed crowd served the memory of her late husband well, mourners said. Hundreds gathered Saturday to pay their respects to Staff Sgt. Dale Kelly Jr. of the Maine Army National Guard, who died May 6 in a roadside bombing in Iraq. Kelly, 48, of Richmond, was a combat medic at war and a dedicated volunteer at home, family and friends said. He also had a good sense of humor, even in dark times, they said. But to his younger brother, the combat medic, volunteer and former Rhode Island Air National Guard member was always "Jimmy." "Dale Kelly was my father," said David Kelly, of Warwick, R.I., who said the younger Dale went by the nickname "Jimmy." David Kelly told mourners about an older brother who was slight in stature, struggled at school and didn't get dates. The tough teenage years gave "Jimmy" the compassion that would later make him a good Boy Scout volunteer, medic and Christian mentor, David Kelly said. "(Dale Kelly) had strength of character forged by trial by fire," he said. Kelly died after a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy in Ad Diwaniyah, in southern Iraq. A University of Maine student, Staff Sgt. David Veverka, 25, of Jamestown, Pa., also was killed in the attack. Kelly, a former Brunswick resident who remained active at St. Paul's after his family moved to Richmond, was a Bath Iron Works employee for 17 years. In 2004, he was credited with obtaining welding units later sent to Iraq so the 133rd Engineer Battalion could reinforce the armor on its Humvees. Kelly helped get the plasma torches to Iraq at a time when National Guard vehicles did not have sufficient wartime armor. "I can assure you, that action saved lives," said Maj. Gen. John W. Libby, adjutant general of the Maine Army National Guard. Libby, who spoke at the funeral, also praised Nancy Kelly, who days ago sat with Veverka's family at the former UMaine student's funeral. "What you don't know, Nancy, is how the manner you've conducted yourself . . . has been an inspiration," he said. Saturday afternoon's ceremony drew an overflow crowd that briefly shut down sections of Pleasant Street and trickled into a banquet hall next to the sanctuary and the church's garden, where funeral-goers who could not find seats listened to the service broadcast on a pair of loudspeakers. Maine's congressional delegation, Gov. John Baldacci and more than a dozen guardsmen attended the ceremony. A small, intertribal group of traditional medicine drummers sung praises outside the church before the funeral. Kelly's family has American Indian ancestry, and his wife asked the Red Hawk Medicine Drum group to perform before the church service. A member of the group said they performed their "Warriors Healing Song" as a tribute to servicemembers and their families. "They're also warriors, those who have to go through the pain and suffering" of a deployment, said Tammy Singingstone of Fairfield, speaking of military families. Kelly's service was on a list of funerals Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church was scheduled to picket, according to a statement issued Friday. No one from the church, whose leaders believe the United States is doomed because it is too tolerant of homosexuality, was visible at the funeral Saturday. Westboro members protest at soldiers' funerals because they believe U.S. deaths in Iraq show God's wrath, but so far they have been no-shows at other Maine services. More than 100 members of the Patriot Guard Riders attended Kelly's funeral, accompanying the procession with a force of around 75 motorcycles and at least 10 cars. The group has served as a barrier between Westboro protesters and mourners in the past. At Kelly's funeral, they lined the Pleasant Street sidewalk leading up to St. Paul's, draping American flags. Tina Ruel and husband Chris Dodd of Gorham were in position across the street from the church more than an hour before the funeral, holding a flag. The Patriot Guard members said they wanted to help continue the support for fallen soldiers that was ignited in late March, when Westboro members said they would picket the funeral of Sgt. Corey Dan of Norway. No Westboro protesters showed up, but throngs of patriotic supporters came in support of the Dan family. "We want to continue the support," Ruel said. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Thank You, SSgt Kelly. Rest in Peace. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-05-22 11:40 |