PLYMOUTH — Hundreds of people, many holding aloft small American flags, lined the main thoroughfare of a northern Indiana city Saturday, watching in silence the funeral procession of a hometown soldier killed in the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting rampage.
The sounds of people chatting and children playing along Plymouth's sidewalks faded into a solemn silence as police cars, members of the military and Indiana Patriot Guard motorcyclists escorted a white hearse carrying the flag-draped coffin of Army Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow.
DeCrow was one of 13 soldiers killed Nov. 5 at Fort Hood when a fellow soldier allegedly opened fire at the Army post. The 32-year-old Plymouth native had been helping train soldiers on how to help new veterans with paperwork.
Several residents in his hometown of 11,000 people said they were sickened by the deadly shooting, and said it was even more tragic because a fellow soldier was the alleged gunman.
Sheila Ellabarger, who had placed two foot-high American flags in the grass at the spot where she watched the procession pass by, said her children went to school with DeCrow and his wife — his high school sweetheart — and she knew other members of his family.
"He was killed by a terrorist in my mind but he was still killed in the line of duty. We owe him a debt of gratitude, him and his family and the other soldiers. We owe them our lives, our freedom," she said.
As DeCrow's procession made a 3-mile trek from a funeral home to Plymouth Wesleyan Church for funeral services closed to the media it traveled through Plymouth's business district, first passing beneath a large American flag held aloft by two cranes.
Only the sounds of passing cars and the sputtering of Patriot Guard's motorcycles filled the air as the procession passed by the crowds. The small American flags that were in many people's hands had been handed out shortly the 11 a.m. procession.
DeCrow was to be buried with full military honors in Plymouth's New Oakhill Cemetery in the city 25 miles south of South Bend.
Tom Zangrilli, a 63-year-old Vietnam veteran, drove about 40 miles from LaPorte, Ind., with his wife, Johanna, so they could show their respects for DeCrow. Zangrilli brought with him a new, full-sized American flag.
He said DeCrow deserves a posthumous purple heart, adding that he feels "an enemy combatant" committed the killings.
"It wasn't a person who was upset, sick or crazy, who committed this. It was an enemy combatant. It's exactly as if a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan was killed by an enemy soldier. We're at war and he deserves a purple heart," Zangrilli said.
After the procession passed through town, 84-year-old Pauline Baugman took an afternoon walk, but said that DeCrow's death, regardless of the circumstances, had left a pall of sadness over Plymouth.
"Everybody's kind of walking around with their head down today. It's just so sad," she said.
DeCrow lived with his wife, Marikay, and 13-year-old daughter Kylah in Evans, Ga., near Fort Gordon before being assigned to Fort Hood in September. He was a satellite communications operator-maintainer who was to be deployed to Iraq.
Marikay DeCrow has said her husband's "infectious charm and wit always put others at ease."
"He was well loved by everyone," she said after the shooting. "He was a loving father and husband and he will be missed by all."
The couple were married in 1996 after graduating high school, and Justin DeCrow joined the military that summer. Kylah was born two weeks after he left for basic training.
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