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PFC Shelby Feniello

(reprinted from PittsburghLive.com, October 22, 2006)

Fallen Marine remembered

A U.S. Marine killed in Iraq was laid to rest Saturday in Fayette County with the military honors accorded a fallen hero, amid the anguished cries of family and friends.

Pfc. Shelby James Feniello, 25, of Connellsville, died Oct. 9 in Ramadi, central Iraq, where insurgent forces detonated an improvised explosive device near his vehicle. Two other Marines died in the attack.

Feniello, who was serving his second tour in Iraq, became the first person from Connellsville to die in the war.

Kimberly McCune, her face streaked with tears, clutched a red rose at her son's grave. She cried out as Marine Lt. Col. Dustin Eaton presented her with the American flag that had draped her son's casket.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Hundreds of mourners joined the family at Green Ridge Memorial Park in Bullskin Township. They filed past Feniello's casket, many of them patting it with their hands.

"He was loved," Richard Feniello said of his son.

The roadside bomb also killed Marine Sgt. Julian Arechaga, 23, of Oceanside, N.Y., and Lance Cpl. Jon E. Bowman, 21, of Dubach, La.

Graham Williams, whose son, John, served with Feniello in Iraq, where the two became best friends, spoke at the church service.

Williams, of Maysville Ga., said his son "had that someone" in Feniello who encouraged and supported him during the tough times in combat.

Williams pledged that his "children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren" will "always know about this guy's love."

"He was too young to die, but he lived as a man and as a Marine," Williams said.

Before joining the Marines, Feniello worked part time for United Parcel Service in New Stanton and for Allegheny Energy as a meter reader. He received an associate degree in accounting and business information technology from West Virginia Career Institute, near Uniontown. Feniello played football and wrestled while attending junior and senior high schools in Connellsville.

"Shelby came home in a way I didn't expect," the Rev. Terry Murray, pastor of Pennsville Baptist Church, told some 600 mourners. He described him as a young man "whose religious faith was maturing and deepening."

Before Feniello left for his second tour in Iraq, Murray told him: "The reason you are going is to get to know God better." And as the soldier walked down the church steps, the pastor said, "I'll be praying for you."

Richard Feniello said he hopes people will support the troops still fighting in Iraq.

"They are just doing what they are asked to do," he said. "Right or wrong, (Shelby) did what he was asked."