Champion grad felled in Iraq to get full honors

Any protesters will be kept away from the soldier's family by volunteers.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
FOWLER -- The Army Honor Guard that escorted home the body of Army Sgt. Robert Michael Carr, who was killed March 13 in Iraq, will also participate in the slain soldier's burial.
The honor guard will do the firing and folding of the United States flags at the cemetery, and an Army general grade officer will present the flags to family members, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Murphy, casualty assistance officer for Carr's wife, Nina. Burial will be with full military honors at Dugan Cemetery.
Carr's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Believers Christian Fellowship Church, 2577 Schenley Ave. N.E. off Elm Road N.E. in Warren. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday in the church.
The burial will take place immediately after the funeral service. Dugan Cemetery is on Sodom-Hutchings Road about one mile south of state Route 305.
Shafer-Winans Chapel in Cortland is handling arrangements.
Carr, 22, whose wife lives with her husband's father and stepmother, Jeffrey and Cathy Carr, in Fowler, was killed when a bomb exploded beneath the armored vehicle he was driving. Carr's mother and stepfather, Christine and Bill Wortman Sr., live in Champion. Carr is a 2002 graduate of Champion High School.
Escort from airport
Carr's body arrived Friday morning at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna on a flight from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
The Army Honor Guard then escorted Carr's body and his family to the funeral home, said Murphy.
Also at the cemetery, an Army bugler will play taps, and a civilian bagpiper, Woody Whitacre, will play "Amazing Grace" and "When the Battle's Over."
Roger Gardner, commander of American Legion Post 540 in Cortland, said a Trumbull County Veterans Honor Guard, with members from several veterans organizations, will post the U.S. flag and flags of the branches of the military service at the entrance of the cemetery.
The Patriot Guard, a national organization of motorcycle enthusiasts who attend military funerals and honor returning veterans, will provide a buffer between the Carr family and any protesters who show up at services Sunday and Monday, said Atty. Ed Romero of Boardman, local spokesman for the group.
To accommodate the anticipated volume of traffic for Carr's burial service, traffic on Sodom-Hutchings Road between Route 305 and Cadwallader-Sonk Road will be restricted to one lane southbound from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Fowler Trustee Al Crabbs said.
He said police will be stationed along that section of Sodom-Hutchings to direct individuals where to park. For those parked away from the cemetery, transportation to the cemetery will be available.
Also, buses will be at Believers' Christian Fellowship as an alternative to driving to Dugan Cemetery. Crabbs encouraged everyone to use the buses to reduce traffic.
alcorn@vindy.com