PLYMOUTH, Ind. --- 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 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, a Plymouth native who lived in Evans with his wife and daughter.
Staff Sgt. DeCrow was one of 13 soldiers killed Nov. 5 at Fort Hood. The 32-year-old 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 Staff Sgt. DeCrow and his wife -- his high school sweetheart.
"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 Staff Sgt. DeCrow's procession made a 3-mile trek from a funeral home to Plymouth Wesleyan Church for funeral services, it traveled through town, first passing beneath a large American flag held aloft by two cranes.
Staff Sgt. DeCrow was to be buried with full military honors in Plymouth's New Oakhill Cemetery.
Staff Sgt. DeCrow lived with his wife, Marikay, and 13-year-old daughter, Kylah, in Evans before being assigned to Fort Hood in September. He was a satellite communications operator-maintainer who was to be deployed to Iraq.
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