Funeral held for soldier

HOBART, Ind. -- About 100 youngsters lined a street holding American flags as the hearse carrying the coffin of a 19-year-old tank gunner killed in Iraq left a church Monday after his funeral.\nThe children from St. Bridget Catholic School joined about 500 mourners who attended the funeral Mass at the neighboring church for Army Cpl. Greg Sanders.\nThe church pews were dotted with military uniforms during the first funeral for someone from Indiana killed in combat since U.S. military action began against Iraq on March 19.\nHis casket was carried to and from the church by seven pall bearers in dress Army uniforms.\n"I'm honored and proud that Greg died protecting our way of life," Sanders' uncle, Rick Knight, said during the Mass. "Greg joined the military to make sure all of us are safe. Not only did he face fears, he did it with pride."\nThe funeral procession was following a route through the northwestern Indiana city lined with American flags and yellow ribbons to Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville, where he was buried in a plot next to that of his father, Navy veteran Rich Sanders.\nSanders, a 2001 graduate of Hobart High School, was an ammunition loader with a tank platoon assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Ga. He was killed by sniper fire in Iraq on March 24, becoming one of the first U.S. casualties.\nSanders is survived by his wife, Ruthann, and their 14-month-old daughter, Gwendolyn.\nSanders was enamored with military life and at age 2 began wearing combat fatigues, family members have said. As a small boy, he played in the back yard of his Hobart home with plastic soldiers.\nIn his junior year of high school, he committed to enlist immediately after graduation, with plans to become a career soldier. In high school, Sanders was a distance runner on the track and cross-country teams.\nIn a letter written to his family before he died, Sanders expressed support for the U.S. military's mission in Iraq and said morale was high.\nHundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil in Hobart on Wednesday to honor Sanders. The service was held at the city's doughboy sculpture, erected in 1925 to honor veterans of all wars.\nAlso Wednesday, Sanders was honored in the U.S. Congressional Record. The Lake County Council declared it Greg Sanders Day, and the Indiana Statehouse passed a resolution in Sanders' honor.\nAnother funeral for an Indiana casualty of the war in Iraq is scheduled Tuesday in Warsaw, about 80 miles east of Hobart. Services for Marine Lance Cpl. David Fribley will be held in the gymnasium of Warsaw Community High School, from which he graduated in 1996.\nFribley, 26, was one of nine Marines killed March 23 during an attack by Iraqi troops who U.S. officials say had pretended to surrender before opening fire.\nFribley graduated from Indiana State University in 2001 and had lived in Fort Myers, Fla., before joining the Marines last year.