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Community gathers as tribute to fallen soldier
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HERMITAGE, Pa. — It was frigid morning, but the sky was blue enough to set off the colors of the American flag hanging from a fire truck ladder over East State Street today.
From Sharpsville, Pa., a police-escorted procession made its way slowly up the road, passing under the flag and turning into the parking lot of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer.
There was another American flag in that procession — this one carefully draped over the coffin of 25-year-old U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. David Wallace III.
The hearse pulled up to the door of the church, while mourners filed into the parking lot. Wallace’s fellow Marines were waiting, six of them, to take him into the church where family and friends had already begun to gather.
It was, said the Rev. Dennis Blauser, who officiated at the service, a gathering to welcome Wallace home to his community and his church family. This welcome was also a time to say goodbye, he added, but when Wallace died Jan. 27, the victim of a roadside mine explosion in Afghanistan, he did not die alone.
“The Lord himself came and said, ‘David, welcome home,” the Rev. Mr. Blauser told the mourners, who were packed in to almost standing room only.
The service was a culmination of honors and remembrance by the community in Sharpsville, which began at 10:30 a.m. at the Donaldson-Mohney Funeral Home on Main Street there. Before making its way to the church, the procession accompanied him on his last trip through the town, up Main Street and past the field where he played high school football.