Ron Paulsen laid to rest

A 21 gun salute rang out today at Willamette National Cemetery for a Vancouver soldier killed in Iraq.

Staff Sergeant Ron Paulsen, 53, died after a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle as he left the town Tarmiya, Iraq, 18 miles northwest of Baghdad.

A member of his unit said Paulsen and others had just taken part in a medical mission to help bring medicine and treatment to the people of Tarmiya.

A hundred friends and family members gathered at the National Cemetery under brilliant blue skies and shivered against an icy wind.

They listened as a chaplain asked God to care for Sgt. Paulsen.

Claire McGann stood with others in the somber crowd.

He described himself as Sgt. Paulsen’s best friend.

“He’d be telling us to knock this off and go get a beer,” McGann said with a smile after the ceremony.

The two met eleven years ago working at Gunderson, a Portland company that makes rail cars and barges.

McGann will always remember Paulsen for his laid back style and sense of humor.

He said Paulsen thought he’d never be called back to active duty and stayed in the active reserve because he could make more money.

McGann remembers when Paulsen got the message to report for active duty.

“He thought it was a joke!” said McGann. “He did not want to go to this war.”

But Paulsen soon learned the orders were real and arrived in Iraq in April.

As a bugle player blew taps, McGann and others remembered their friend Ron Paulsen, killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb.

From KGW 8

Vancouver soldier buried with full honors

PORTLAND — Fishing buddies, fellow soldiers, friends and family huddled on a windy, icy, blue-sky Monday at Willamette National Cemetery and honored Staff Sgt. Ronald Lee Paulsen of Vancouver, who was killed when a roadside bomb blew apart his Humvee in Tarmiya, Iraq, on Oct. 17.

“He was always laughing. He was a man of great humor who took care of his soldiers very well,” said Army Staff Sgt. Harris Dail, who traveled from Iraq to pay tribute to his buddy. He was to fly back to the war immediately after the memorial service.

“His laughter was contagious,” Dail said. “His sense of humor would get us through the day when things were bad. He would be laughing early in the morning with his teammates, and his laugh would be my alarm clock.”

Many of the 100 people who shivered through the service recalled the upbeat personality of Paulsen, 53, the second-oldest American soldier and the seventh soldier with Clark County connections to be killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. Army records show only Staff Sgt. Carlos Dominguez, of Savannah, Ga., was older. He was 57 when he was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq on Sept. 27.

“There was one young soldier that Sergeant Paulsen was a father figure for,” said Dail. “That makes this all the harder. He gave the ultimate sacrifice. He just picked up his gear and he led the way.”

An honor guard from Vancouver’s Smith-Reynolds American Legion Post 14 presided at the memorial service. They marched into the cemetery’s amphitheater with Paulsen’s ashes and an American flag to lead off a prayerful, 20-minute service. The full military honors featured a 21-gun salute, “Taps” by two buglers, their tones riding on the freezing winds, and “Amazing Grace” played by a distant bagpiper.

American Legion Chaplain John Clapp spoke:

“We come to honor one who is now enrolled in that great spirit army whose footfalls and souls go marching on,” he said, and then read several passages from Scripture.

Paulsen’s wife of eight months, Beverly, wearing a bright red coat, soberly accepted the flag that was slowly unfolded then refolded over a table bearing Paulsen’s cremated remains. After the service she hugged and greeted guests.

The area was decorated with red and white roses and lilies in greenery and purple ribbons. American, Army and POW-MIA flags flew next to a rifle stuck bayonet first into the ground and topped by a helmet, representing the soldier killed in action. Soldiers, from generals to privates, stood at attention. Motorcycle-riding members of the Patriot Guard Riders organization, clad in black leathers, solemnly raised 20 American flags across the back of the amphitheater.

After the service, the crowd gathered at the American Legion hall in Vancouver to share a meal and memories.

“He was a great guy, just a genuine good person,” said Kay Masters of Portland, who worked with Paulsen at Gunderson, Inc. Paulsen worked at the Portland factory for 14 years making rail cars and barges. Masters said she also knew Paulsen and his late first wife, Wendy, 20 years ago at Fort Ord, Calif.

She remembered his constant joking, even when he was called back to active duty at age 52 after 13 years in the inactive Army Reserve.
In December 2005, Paulsen was recalled, then sent to Iraq in April, assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve’s 414th Civil Affairs Battalion, locating job sites for Iraqi reconstruction.

“When they called him back in the Army, he joked and said ‘I’m going to be the only one in my unit on high blood pressure medication,’” Masters recalled, with a smile. “I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you one of those medical supply catalogs and I’ll mail you whatever you need: a walker or whatever.’” She chuckled. “You never laughed so hard as being around Ron — always, always... a great sense of humor.”

He was kind. Seventeen years ago, Masters said, Paulsen made a habit of taking her daughter, Katherine, to the movies and fishing. “At the time, she was about seven. He took her bowling, with friends of hers.”

“We went fishing several times,” said one of Paulsen’s supervisors at Gunderson, Rusty Bridges. “We caught some big ones.”

“Good guy, really good guy, always laughing, no matter what he was doing,” said Nate Bittinger, of Kennewick, who often worked with Paulsen at Gunderson.

In addition to his wife, Paulsen is survived by a stepson, John Double, and a granddaughter, Kalisha Marie Double, of Vancouver; two brothers, Dean Paulsen, of Portland and Jerry Paulsen, of Deer Island, Ore.; a sister-in-law, Connie Paulsen, also of Deer Island, and several aunts and uncles.

“They were just so happy,” said Paulsen’s niece, Teresa Lambert, of Ronald and Beverly Paulsen’s short marriage. “He was such a great uncle. We loved him. We will miss him so.”

“He was quiet,” said his uncle, Harold Harding of Portland. “Really a good kid.”

From the Columbian

Related Link:
Ron Paulsen killed by roadside bomb