David M. Unger laid to rest

FORT LEAVENWORTH -- Cpl. David M. Unger took his place of honor Friday.

Unger, who was killed in action Oct. 17 in Iraq when an improvised explosive device struck his armored Humvee, was laid to rest under a gray sky in the green fields of Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.

His casket was placed in the rich brown earth amid row after row of white limestone markers bearing the names of service members who, like him, made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Near the freshly dug grave of the young soldier -- he would have turned 22 on Halloween -- are buried veterans of the Persian Gulf War, Vietnam War, Korean War and World War II.

Older parts of the cemetery contain remains of military men from World War I, the Spanish-American War, the Civil War and even earlier as Fort Leavenworth is one of the oldest continuously active military posts located west of the Mississippi River.

While Unger wasn't the first casualty of America's current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq to be buried in the cemetery, the attention given his funeral was different.
He was a hometown boy.

Unger grew up in the area, graduating in 2003 from Leavenworth High School. As a teenager, he worked baby-sitting children as their parents attended services at the fort's Main Post Chapel, where his mother also worked. His father, Matthew Unger, is an Army sergeant major.

Also, Leavenworth is a military town.

So townsfolk turned out with American flags to pay their respects as the hearse bearing Unger's casket made its way from the funeral home onto the military reservation.

There, hundreds of enlisted men and women, officers, military retirees, veterans and civilian employees lined the roads from the main gates to the Main Post Chapel.

Jana Harrison, who retired as a command sergeant major after 30 years of service with Kansas Army National Guard, was among those "to pay our respect for a fallen comrade," she said.

"It's the right thing to do. He was fighting for our freedom here," Harrison said.

Marine Lt. Col. Brandon McGowan, who is assigned to one of the interservice agencies at the fort, was there in uniform.

The Iraq war veteran said: "It's important for all military personnel to stand out here and show respect for this young man. I'm happy to do it."

Mourners filled the large chapel after an honor guard carried into it the casket, upon which was place a large color portrait of a smiling Unger.

From a Bible that Unger used as a boy, Sonya Jones read the passage from Ecclesiastes about there being a season for all things, including "a time to heal, and a time to kill" and "a time of war, and a time of peace."

Josh Shockey sang Collin Raye's song, "Love Me," which ends with a promise of one spouse to another to be waiting to greet them in the next life.

Unger's widow, Laura, who he married on Valentine's Day 2004, said that was the song she heard just before she received news of her husband's death.

Through tears, Jeremy Unger, told of how empty he felt upon learning of his older brother's death and how he struggled accepting it and searched for a reason why it happened.
"He died protecting us and our freedom, and that is a reason I could live with," he said.

Nearly every speaker talked about Unger's sense of humor and how he would be the one who would inevitably provide needed comic relief.

Maj. Samuel Godfrey, one of the chaplains at the service, said he believed that might have been Unger's biggest contribution to his comrades in Iraq -- "making the unbearable bearable."

Godfrey encouraged the congregation to keep alive their memories of Unger, not just for their sake, but for the sake of the slain soldier's toddler son, Gage.

"He loved Gage, and Gage needs to hear about his Daddy," the chaplain said.

Godfrey noted this wasn't the homecoming Unger planned, noting he had called his mother, Diana Pitts, at 4 a.m. a week before he was killed to reassure her that he would be home by Christmas and out of the Army by February or March.

From the chapel, Unger's body was carried in a horse-drawn hearse to a shelter house in the cemetery. A gun salute was fired, and "Taps" was blown as the honor guard folded the U.S. flag that had covered the casket.

Brig. Gen. Mark O'Neill presented the flag, a Bronze Medal, Purple Heart and other medals to the young widow, expressing condolences "on behalf of a grateful nation."

O'Neill also made presentations to the soldier's mother, stepfather and siblings and to Unger's father, who stood in uniform. The general reached out a hand to comfort him and his now oldest son.

Then it was one more procession.

This one was to the open grave, and once again the way was lined by flag-carrying mourners welcoming home one of their own.

From the Topeka Capital-Journal

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