Comrades remember Casey Mellen

FORT LEWIS - Fort Lewis said farewell Tuesday to a young soldier barely out of high school.

Corporal Casey Mellen was killed in Iraq last week.

"Casey was a good soldier and a good friend," Staff Sgt. William Payne told the crowd at the Main Post Chapel.

The soldiers of the Stryker Brigade, his family and friends are all trying to make sense of this.

Mellen was just three years out of high school, he'd just turned 21 and he'd just married Amber Green.

"Sometimes, Casey took on more than he had to, to make sure the task was accomplished so no one else would have to come back behind him," Payne said.

Cpl. Mellen had only been in the Army two years. But his fellow soldiers say Mellen made quite an impact.

"Today we close ranks and return to the march," said Major Robt Bennett of the Stryker Brigade. "We are more committed than we were yesterday because we have lost a brother-in-arms and we are determined to accomplish our mission in his honor."

Payne added, "Casey was always willing to sacrifice in the name of goodness. Casey gave us one more sacrifice. We love you bud, you will never be forgotten."

His young wife Amber wasn't there Tuesday. She had already left for Huachuka, Arizona for her husband's funeral Wednesday.

From KOMO 4

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Casey Mellen killed by small arms fire