LeeBernard Chavis laid to rest

Airman 1st Class LeeBernard Chavis and Marine Sgt. Justin Walsh weren't newcomers to Iraq. Both were serving repeat tours of duty when they were struck down this month in separate incidents.

Yesterday, the young men were interred during ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.

Chavis, 21, whose family moved from the District to Hampton, Va., when he was 6, joined the Air Force two years ago. He was on his second tour in Iraq when he was shot and killed by a sniper Oct. 14, while on duty as a turret gunner in Baghdad. Chavis was assigned to the 824th Security Forces Squadron, based at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. He was his unit's first combat casualty in Iraq.

Family members said Chavis expected to return home in January before being deployed elsewhere. His brother, Michael Chavis, said he planned to become a police officer. Members of his squadron said he talked about perhaps joining the FBI, CIA or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Chavis's unit was attached to the 372nd Military Police Battalion, which trains Iraqi police officers in western Baghdad. On trips through the city streets, he was lead gunner, manning a .50-caliber machine gun. He was responsible for clearing a path for the rest of his team.

Yesterday, dozens of men and women from the Air Force gathered with Chavis's family and friends at Arlington, where blustery winds blew leaves across the field of headstones.

"I always knew Lee was a take-charge kind of person," said Kevin Davis, assistant principal at Phoebus High School in Hampton, which Chavis graduated from in 2003.

"He was assertive in what he believed in," Davis said. "He always stuck to his guns. At his funeral service in Hampton [on Monday], people were saying Lee was a hero and a warrior. I could see those traits in him. He was a person who truly gave his life for his country, who gave it for what he believed in."

Read the rest at the Washington Post

Services for LeeBernard Chavis

HAMPTON -- More than 200 airmen and soldiers gathered on the tarmac at Baghdad International Airport a week ago to escort the body of LeeBernard Chavis onto a homeward-bound flight. And on Monday in Hampton, more than 400 people joined Chavis' friends and family to remember the airman.

Those in Baghdad knew the 21-year-old Hampton man as a warrior. In his squad, an elite military police force tasked with clearing dangerous paths so other soldiers could follow safely, Chavis sat in the hot seat, atop an armored truck where he manned a machine gun from a turret.

Chavis was struck and killed by a sniper on Oct. 14 when he left the shelter of the turret to warn Iraqi civilians about what appeared to be a roadside bomb. He was awarded a posthumous Purple Heart for his bravery.

"He was the type of guy you want to go to war with," said Senior Master Sgt. Sam Johnson, who accompanied Chavis' casket on the flight from Iraq.

Johnson joined those gathered in Hampton on Monday at a funeral for the fallen airman.

They recalled a boisterous young man who, in the drum corps at Phoebus High School, played the cymbals with such vigor that he once lost control and sent one sailing over the heads of his band mates.

He was the type of friend who would give you the shirt off his back. And he did. Saeed Williams, 22, wore the black-and-white jersey Chavis gave him one day simply because Williams had admired it.

The Monday after Chavis died, Williams received an Internet birthday greeting Chavis had sent the week before. "He said he loved me, and he couldn't wait to come back," Williams said.

Chavis, an airman first class, graduated from Phoebus High School in 2003. He spent a year trying to decide what he wanted to do with his life before he settled on the Air Force, a path that several of his many cousins had chosen before him.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Timikia Peden called her cousin - whom family members nicknamed "Nard" - a kindred spirit.

"Even as a young man, Nard had a clarity about right and wrong and what he wanted to do," Peden said. "When the war is no longer an indirect hit, when it hits home, we need to keep that same clarity that Nard had."

Chavis chose one of the most difficult tracks in the Air Force when he joined the 820th Security Forces Group, based out of Georgia's Moody Air Force Base, two years ago. He trained in urban warfare, learned how to navigate using night vision goggles and practiced rappelling from a helicopter. He specialized in using heavy weapons, and he excelled, said the commander of the 820th.

"He was the best of the best," said Col. John Decknick. "Everybody wanted him in that turret."

Chavis is one of 86 Americans to be killed in what has been the deadliest month in two years for U.S. troops in Iraq. He is the first casualty from his unit.

Apart from his military duties, Chavis was an energetic young man who liked fancy cars, snazzy clothes and fast music rhythms.

As a teen, he was a leader in his church's youth music group. At the funeral, the group put on a recording he made one Friday night under the stage name "Lee Boogie"- an upbeat swing number, riffing off the tune of "Yes, Jesus Loves Me."

"When I say 'Lee Boogie,' I want you to boogie!" his voice crooned over the loudspeaker.

In the back row of the crowded church Monday, his closest friends got up and boogied. Then they broke down in sobs.

Williams wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jersey.

From the Daily Press

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