Bryan McDonough laid to rest

Under a bitter sky, Renee McDonough accepted the flag from her son's casket.

The moment was too much for most to bear.

Sobs engulfed those mourning Bryan McDonough, the 22-year-old Minnesota National Guard specialist who was killed Dec. 2 in Iraq and was buried in Fort Snelling National Cemetery on Tuesday.

His funeral — one of three this week for Minnesota soldiers who died this month in the war — drew more than 2,500 people to the Cathedral of St. Paul, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum and U.S. Sen.-elect Amy Klobuchar.

"We are asking big things of our children," said the Rev. Kevin McDonough, who is not related, during the homily. "If we are asking that of our children, what type of people must you and I be?"

The answer, according to the pastor, is that we must be more truthful and more trustworthy — and more sacrificing than young soldiers like McDonough who are dying in Iraq.

McDonough was killed while on patrol near Fallujah when an improvised explosive device destroyed his Humvee. The Maplewood native was riding with Spc. Corey Rystad, 20, of Red Lake Falls. Rystad also died in the blast.

"It just hits you hard because you don't think it's going to be somebody you know," said David Nguyen, 22, a friend of McDonough's since childhood. The two graduated from Roseville Area High School in 2002. McDonough enlisted the following year.

His death has made the war "more real," said longtime friend Chris Luna.

"One day, you're throwing a going-away party for him," said Luna, 23. "The next you're going to his funeral."

The friends arrived at the cathedral to a phalanx of flags — the Patriot Guard Riders lined the steps leading from John Ireland Boulevard and the Maplewood Fire Department had draped an American flag between two ladder trucks across the boulevard.

Drivers craned their necks and passers-by paused at the sight.

"It's not often you see something like this on Summit Avenue," said Sue Campbell, a neighborhood resident. "It brought tears to my eyes."

Campbell had been walking nearby with her dog, Heidi, when she spotted the flag over the street. She went home, grabbed a camera and came back to pay her respects.

"It's really nice to see this — not the occasion — but the support they give the family," she said of the flag bearers.

Inside the church, only a few pews were empty while mourners continued to trickle in throughout the nearly two-hour service. One side of the altar was marked by a blown-up image of Bryan McDonough in civilian clothes. On the other, directly under the pulpit, hung his dress greens.

The pastor asked parishioners to live up to — and surpass — Bryan McDonough's example.

He described the soldier as someone who understood that life is about giving, not acquiring.

"We mourn for Tom and Renee, but have to be like them," he said, turning to the soldier's parents. "Your son was able to lay down his life because he saw you lay down your life every day."

As a church bell rang, more than 100 cars drove over Cathedral Hill on their way to the cemetery.

The masses huddled around the small pavilion that sheltered McDonough's casket at the burial ground. A light mist was clearing by the time Father McDonough committed the man's body back to the earth.

Young soldiers stood in the background with red eyes and clenched jaws.

The crowd withstood the 21-gun salute and a bagpipe rendition of "Danny Boy" with sniffles and tears.

When the mother took the flag, though, it meant that Bryan McDonough was gone forever.

From the Pioneer Press

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