James Lyons honored, laid to rest

(October 8, 2006) — He was a warrior who set fear aside to complete his mission. A fierce competitor on the athletic field. A man who seized life and enjoyed it to the fullest.

But the hundreds of mourners who gathered Saturday to bid him farewell also learned, or were reminded, that Army 1st Lt. James Lyons, 28, of Brighton was well-served by other strengths of his personality as he fought in Iraq.

He was sensitive, perceptive and compassionate. He cared deeply about the soldiers under his command and the people of the country he worked so hard to liberate.

And in his death, said the Rev. James O'Connor, Lt. Lyons embodied the words of Jesus Christ, who said "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life for the ransom of many."

"For James, the challenge of Jesus was a call to arms," O'Connor said at Lt. Lyons' Catholic funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Brighton. "The ransom of many meant the people of Iraq. ... James wanted to do his part to ransom these people from injustice, poverty, repression."

Lt. Lyons, the only child of Robert and Marcia Lyons of Brighton, was killed Sept. 27 by a sniper in Baghdad, Iraq. He is also survived by his girlfriend, Hillary Trent of Boston, to whom he intended to propose marriage upon his return from Iraq.

He had played football and lacrosse at Brighton High School and the Vermont Academy.

He was a 2003 graduate of Syracuse University.

Saturday's funeral marked a hero's return as hundreds of people lined the streets in front of the church, holding aloft large American flags, to bear witness to the somber occasion.

A military honor guard from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum carried Lt. Lyons' flag-draped casket into the church and provided a rifle salute at the end of the Mass.

The soldiers wore a unit patch on the right shoulder of their dress-green uniforms, signaling that they too had served in combat and knew where their fallen comrade had been.

Lt. Lyons' father is a more than 30-year veteran of the Brighton Volunteer Fire Department, which also came out in force to honor the fallen solider.

The pall bearers marched in step between ranks of uniformed firefighters who lined the sidewalk and steps leading into the church on Varinna Drive.

To get there, the funeral procession passed beneath a huge American flag that had been draped from an arch formed by two ladders extended from fire trucks parked along Monroe Avenue.

People in the church sang "America the Beautiful" as the coffin was carried, friends and family walking behind it.

In his homily, O'Connor drew heavily from the Gospel reading, Matthew 10: 20-28, in which Jesus explains that it's the small accomplishments that win the biggest rewards in the eyes of God.

He recounted two stories of Lt. Lyons' service in Iraq that demonstrated how the young soldier lived by that example.

In one story, Lt. Lyons, while riding in a convoy, simply tossed a bottle of water to an Iraqi man in tattered clothes as the heat approached 126 degrees.

In the other, Lt. Lyons and members of his platoon were questioning an Iraqi family in their home when someone in the family offered the soldiers the only thing they had to drink — warm, curdled milk.

"The others gagged at the thought of this concoction. But James, the sensitive one, the perceptive one, the compassionate one, somehow got it down."

At the close of the Mass, several of Lt. Lyons' friends offered testimonies of his character and how he touched their lives.

Perhaps the most moving was a letter written by Trent, Lt. Lyons' girlfriend, read by her friend, Heather Telerico. In the letter, Trent explained how Lt. Lyons caught her eye when they were freshmen at Syracuse and how generous he was with his love for her.

The love songs he sang out loud were as much a part of his personality as the "wild side" of his fraternity antics, she wrote.

"We called each other salt and pepper shakers," Trent wrote. "He was my salt. He made me feel so secure."

Trent's father, retired Air Force Col. Terry Trent, could not contain his tears as he described a man he had grown to admire.

"Lt. Lyons," Col. Trent said through his sobs, "your mission is complete. Rest in honor. Rest in peace."

From the Democrat and Chronicle

Related Link:
James Lyons killed by small arms fire