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In Memoriam |
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In Memoriam |
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Cpl. Eric Lueken
Saying goodbye to Marine: More than 800 attend funeral for Indiana soldier killed during combat in IraqBy BYRON ROHRIG, Courier & Press staff writer
May 14, 2006DUBOIS, Ind. — It seemed just about everybody in Dubois County along the route connecting this tiny farm town to the county seat of Jasper came out Saturday to say goodbye and thanks to Cpl. Eric Lueken.
Lueken once told his mother he wanted to join the Marine Corps because he wished to see the world, but knew it wouldn't happen unless he got out of Dubois. Getting out, though, did not mean turning his back on his hometown, said the Rev. John Brosmer, a native of nearby Celestine who affirmed the 23-year-old held friends and family central to the life he lost April 22 during combat in Iraq's Anbar province.
"He was on a mission," recalled Brosmer about ways Lueken spent his brief span of days, from reaching out to family and friends and hunting and fishing to his quest "to be the best Marine he could be." Brosmer presided alongside three other clergy over a funeral Mass at St. Raphael Catholic Church attended by more than 800 people. As if on cue, a light rain began falling from a sky a shade darker than Lueken's gray metal coffin as Brosmer led a procession including Marine pallbearers from Lueken's parish church to the cemetery just outside, where he was laid to rest.
Members of the Topeka, Kan., group that calls itself Westboro Baptist Church had said they planned to demonstrate at Lueken’s funeral, but if any came to Jasper or Dubois, they revealed themselves to no one.
The group has staged protests at funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq to call attention to what they regard as God’s judgment against America for its tolerance of homosexuality. Members of the Westboro group picketed in Evansville early this year at rites for Army Pvt. Jonathan Pfender.
But veterans showed up in force, drowning out the demonstrators’ often obscene chants and shielding mourners from the sight of signs suggesting deaths of U.S. soldiers is God’s punishment. Motorcycle group At Lueken’s funeral, members of the motorcycle group Patriot Guard lined the street passing in front of the church and cemetery, but their only task was to display flags and, like everyone else there, show support for Lueken’s loved ones.
They included his parents, Glenn "Jake" and Melinda Lueken, and Ericka Merkel, the woman the young Marine intended to marry when he returned from duty in Iraq. Alongside them was another Dubois Marine and Lueken’s friend, Sgt. Ian Denu, who recently concluded a four-year hitch with the Corps.
Hundreds of people and hundreds of American flags lined the route of a motorcade that began precisely at 9 a.m., after the conclusion of a family service at Becher & Kluesner Funeral Home at 32nd and Newton streets in Jasper.
A giant Stars and Stripes was suspended over the route just south of the Patoka River bridge by snorkel units of the Jasper and Huntingburg fire departments.
Many members of Veterans of Foreign Wars 673 and Jasper Post 147 of the American Legion were in uniform as they saluted from the fronts of their buildings.
Police, firefighters and even emergency medical units blocked intersections along the route where electronic and low-tech signs of businesses contained tributes to Lueken. Families gather
There were lots of homemade signs, too — more as the procession left Jasper for a 16-mile trip that lasted an hour through rolling countryside of lush woods and farm fields. Families gathered on front lawns and at the end of lanes. Tribute signs proclaimed, "Eric proudly served his country. Now he served with angel’s wings."
"We honor you."
"How do we spell hero? E-r-i-c." Faithful to a rural tradition, drivers of oncoming cars pulled over and stopped as the long motorcade passed.
Parish members and a local caterer donated food for an after-funeral dinner for 800, served in St. Raphael’s basement and Dubois Elementary School, just next door.