Michael Weidemann laid to rest

More than 100 mourners attended a funeral this afternoon in Portsmouth for Army Sgt. Michael R. Weidemann, the 11th Rhode Islander killed in the Iraq war.

The two-hour ceremony was held in St. Mary's Episcopal Church, where Weidemann's maternal grandmother is a congregant. She attended the ceremony, as did Weidemann's sister and three brothers.

Governor Carcieri, Sen. Jack Reed and Senator-elect Sheldon Whitehouse were among the dignitaries in attendance.

Earlier today, members of the Rogers High School Junior ROTC program mourned Weidemann's death. The 23-year-old Rogers graduate was killed Oct. 31 in Iraq.

A memorial service for him was held outside the Newport school, where he had participated in the ROTC program before graduating in 2001.

Weidemann was killed while on patrol in the Anbar Province west of Baghdad when his armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. He was serving his second tour in Iraq for the Army's 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division.

Weidemann endured tremendous difficulties in his youth. Born in Canada, he came to Rhode Island at age 7 when his mother moved here. Susanna Weidemann, a single parent, raised him and his four siblings in her mother's house in Middletown.

The family faced even greater challenges when Susanna Weidemann died of cancer at 40 in 1999. Michael Weidemann, her second eldest, wound up in a group home and began attending the Newport Area Career and Technical Center, affiliated with Rogers High School. There he got involved in the school's ROTC program.

"He was a fine young man, a fine cadet. It's certainly a tragedy," said retired Army Col. Wayne Pembrook, of Middletown, who helped oversee the program at Rogers.

From the Providence Journal

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