Local soldier’s body brought home after death in Afghanistan

An hour before the plane bringing 19-year-old Brett Wood’s body home from Afghanistan arrived, Indiana Patriot Guard Assistant State Captain Ron Coleman called a group of more than 90 motorcyclists to gather around him.

Wood, a 2010 graduate from Owen Valley High School in Spencer, Ind., died Sept. 9 while on deployment in southern Afghanistan, and on Sunday, members of the Patriot Guard and Legion Riders met to lead a procession from Monroe County Airport to his hometown.

In a parking lot near the hangar where the plane would land, Coleman scanned the crowd.

Flag staffs poked out of a bag in the bed of his red truck, and the sky drizzled as he spoke.

“Listen up; I’ll give you what information I have, but it’s subject to change,” Coleman said.

A message went out last week requesting Legion Riders to attend the procession, and from across the country, they came to show support.

“They put the call out and said what’s going on, and we showed up,” said Legion Rider Randy Kaiser of Post 61 in Kansas City, Mo. “From all over the country, we’re here.”

They never knew Wood, had never even heard of him, but most of the riders were veterans, and they attended out of respect, Kaiser said.

“When they come around that corner and they see that line of bikes, I know they’ll be amazed,” Coleman said, speaking about the family members driving to the airport from Spencer.

After giving the group instructions, Coleman left them with a final request.

“Be respectful. This is the first time,” he paused a few seconds, “the family will see their son.”

***

The events of 9/11 sparked Wood’s interest in joining the Army, said Wood’s longtime friend Derek Mundy.

“It made him want to serve his country and protect his family,” Mundy said.

Wood left for Afghanistan in July 2010, and on Sept. 9, he was killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar Province.

Mundy and Wood graduated from high school together. Wood was his best friend.
“I’ve known him as long as you can know someone,” Mundy said.

Before driving to the airport, he and a friend painted “Never forgotten, Pfc. Brett Wood” on their car’s rear window. They both agreed they most remember Wood’s smile.

“His James Dean smile,” Mundy said.

***

For three minutes, the Kalita Charters plane carrying Wood’s coffin whirred on the runway before becoming visible.

More than 50 of Wood’s family and friends waited inside the hangar.

They stood with hands in their pockets, arms folded across their chests or one arm wrapped around another person’s waist.

Thirty Legion Riders with American flags formed three lines around the group, two acting as receiving lines for the coffin and the third wrapping around the back.

There was not a set Color Guard but, in their place, volunteers held flags.

As six pallbearers carried the coffin from the plane, the family members waited in silence. With the coffin placed before the family, the Legion Riders, police officers and other military personnel formed a half-circle around the group.

The family remained quiet through a prayer and quiet still when asked to step forward for condolences.

They approached the coffin in pairs. After a few seconds, the silence present during the routine military procedures broke, replaced by a woman’s wrenching sobs.

In the circle behind her, the Legion Riders cupped the family in a protective circle, waiting as the family welcomed their son home.