Clifford Collinsworth laid to rest

The first picture showed a rosy-cheeked baby. Then a boy dressed as Santa on Halloween.

There he was riding a snowmobile, graduating from high school and partying with friends.

Finally, Lance Cpl. Cliff Collinsworth was pictured in his Marine's uniform, holding a gun on a stretch of road a world away.

Three months shy of his 21st birthday, the Chelsea man's life was cut short on Oct. 21 near Ramadi by a roadside bomb during his second tour of duty in Iraq. Three other Marines, including another Michigan soldier, also were killed in the explosion that destroyed their Humvee.

During a somber memorial service Monday in Chelsea, mourners watched a monitor with scenes from the life of the man who his mother said was still all boy.

"You couldn't ask for anything more out of a Marine and a person,'' said Josh Schultz of Ohio, who served with Collinsworth last year on his first tour of Iraq and left the military last month. "I was devastated when I heard. I wished I was with him. I'd rather have been there.''

Chris Hurst of Columbus, Ohio, who also served with Collinsworth in Iraq and was discharged from the Marines in January, said Collinsworth took every situation head-on, never backing down.

"He was a very good Marine on a professional level, and a very good, funny kid on a personal level,'' Hurst said.

Hurst said Collinsworth's platoon had one job: Find the IED (improvised explosive device).

"Some days there were close calls, some days not,'' he said. "Cliff knew that. He had a good mind on his shoulders. That was his job to do every day. Look for what he could find, and hopefully find it.''

Collinsworth, who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps six days after graduating from Chelsea High in 2004, was described by Chaplain Don Verner as a man who knew what he wanted. He was proud to be called a Marine and lived by those values, Verner said.

When Collinsworth worked in Ann Arbor, he would stop to see his grandmother and never failed to say, "I love you,'' even in front of his friends, Verner said.

Collinsworth was involved in the occasional fight, Verner said, drawing laughter from the crowd of about 600 gathered inside and outside Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home. But he always insisted he was defending the little guy, the chaplain said.

Army Pvt. First Class Jason Smith, a longtime friend of the Collinsworth family, said that when he moved to Chelsea in second grade, he was in the same class as Collinsworth's older sister, Melissa.

When he met little Cliff, Smith said during the memorial service, his first thoughts were: "Who's this kid? And who's the guy who gave him too much sugar?''

"Cliff always seemed to have something on his mind - or was always about to do something,'' Smith said. "You always wondered what's Cliff going to do next ... He was always the life of the party.''

Smith said Collinsworth and a friend once set off fireworks in another friend's backyard, then ran back to Cliff's Blazer only to discover it had a flat tire. They spent four hours fixing it.

"That's when the plan went sour,'' said Smith, to laughter.

Smith recalled the positive changes in his friend after boot camp.

"I saw him at a Chelsea football game. The change was amazing,'' Smith said. "He was so focused and happy. He carried himself differently. He seemed to be at ease. I was so proud of my friend.''

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has ordered that U.S. flags throughout the state of Michigan and on Michigan waters be lowered Wednesday in honor of Collinsworth. The rock at Chelsea's Pierce Park was painted red, white and blue, and now bears the words: "In Memory Of Cliff.''

The long funeral procession moved slowly past Chelsea residents standing silently on sidewalks, saluting or holding flags. At Oak Grove East Cemetery, Cliff's parents, Donald and Trisha, joined other family members at the burial service. As the sun shone, they bowed their heads at the lonesome sound of Taps.

Wendy Bowen of Saline, one of the hundreds of mourners at the cemetery, works with some of Collinsworth's closest friends. Two of her three sons are Marines, and both expect to serve in Iraq - one as early as March.

"This brings the war that much closer to home,'' she said, her eyes red from crying.

Smith said he admired Collinsworth's courage for joining the Marines in a time of war to fight for his country.

"Cliff was probably getting ready to move on to the next phase of his life after the Marines,'' he said. "But he gave up years of his life to serve, and now he's given his own life.''

Noting that people came from all over the country to bid Collinsworth farewell, Smith quoted someone else who said that Collinsworth will not die.

"He'll live,'' he said, "in all our memories.''

From the Ann Arbor News

Related Link:
Clifford R. Collinsworth killed in combat