Pfc. Daniel McClenney U.S.M.C (KIA)

Shelbyville bids farewell to good friend, Marine Pfc. McClenney

HEL STULTS
For The Tennessean

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — In a letter he wrote home from Afghanistan, Pfc. Daniel McClenney told his minister he felt he was making a difference.

''These people are different here,'' minister Bob Simmons of Flat Creek Church of Christ read aloud from the letter. ''We've taught them all kinds of good stuff. They will never be the same when we leave.''

McClenney, 19, a U.S. Marine, left for Afghanistan in May. He was killed there during a skirmish on June 24.

More than 500 mourners filled the Fairlane Church of Christ in Shelbyville yesterday to bid farewell to the Bedford County native, who was remembered as a model son, a good Christian and a fallen hero.

''The folks that are here — some have come for patriotic reasons because they feel a keen loss for a fallen hero. Others have come because they have known him in many different ways,'' Simmons said in his eulogy. ''This whole town feels the agony of this loss. He is our fallen hero and he stands for all the fallen heroes in our country.''

Simmons also remembered McClenney for the words written in his letter.

''He (McClenney) has taught us all kinds of good stuff,'' Simmons said. ''We will never be the same, since he has left us too soon.''

Floy Baker, who attended church with McClenney, said she knew him all of his life and said he always wanted to be a Marine. Through tear-filled eyes she expressed her sadness at his death.

''He was a wonderful person and a good Christian boy,'' she said. ''He would do anything for anybody.''

Draped in the American flag, Daniel McClenney's coffin was carried by Marines in dress uniforms to a hearse for a burial service with full military honors at Rose Bank Cemetery. As the funeral procession traveled to the cemetery, bystanders holding American flags lined the streets in tribute.

''For the patriot in all of us, our staggering loss is incalculable,'' Simmons said.

''Comfort will come in two ways: Pleasant memories of Daniel and precious promises of God.''