Lance Cpl. Travis Fox, 25, was one of eight Marines who died Oct. 30 when a suicide bomber hit their convoy outside of Fallujah, Iraq.

His widow joined 400 others for Fox's funeral Saturday at the Abner Creek Baptist Church.

She said she knew it was possible her husband might die in Iraq, but she never thought she would say goodbye to him so soon.

"It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all," Casie Fox said. "We had the kind of love that only comes once in a lifetime. He was my soul mate, my best friend, my life, my world, my everything."

Travis Fox's pastor, the Rev. Mike Wood of Westside Baptist Church in Cowpens, said he always wrote his new bride in his e-mails.

And in his final e-mail, Fox talked about how watching a shepherd lead his herd of sheep through the desert reminded him of his faith because the shepherd always know if one is missing from his flock.

"He has found me and He is bringing me back to my herd where it is safe," Wood said, reading from Fox's e-mail.

Marine Capt. Anthony Liller presented Fox's widow with the Purple Heart and read a letter from his regiment commander in Iraq.

"He was unselfish and eager," Col. Jeff Patterson wrote. "His death served a high and noble cause."

The funeral profession, stretching several miles made its way to Sunset Memorial Park in Spartanburg, where Fox was buried. American flags lined the path to the grave.

Fox's widow and his parents, including his father, Gary Fox, an inmate at Tyger River Correctional Facility who was escorted by guards, were given American flags.

A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as Casie placed a yellow flower on the casket and said her final goodbye, five months after they started their lives together.