James Davenport laid to rest

Family members said Lance Cpl. James Davenport probably would have skipped his own funeral if he had seen the attention it received.

He was a quiet man, like his father, who didn’t like the limelight, said the Rev. Lyn Hill, pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Seneca.

Still, Anderson residents lined Main Street Friday to pay respects to their fallen hero. Lance Cpl. Davenport, 20, was a U.S. Marine stationed in Iraq. He died last month when the high-mobility multipurpose-wheeled vehicle he was driving passed a bomb on the roadway.

Marines in dress uniform stood along the sidewalk at attention as the funeral procession left McDougald Funeral Home. Workers stood outside hair salons, banks, pharmacies and retail shops, covering their hearts with their hands as if they were saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

In downtown, three men stood in the median holding large flags. At River Street, the city and county fire departments connected a flag to two ladder trucks creating an arch for the funeral procession to pass under as family and friends followed Lance Cpl. Davenport’s body to its resting place on his parent’s Anderson farm.

Lance Cpl. Davenport came from a military family. His father, Clifford Davenport, served in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam and his 23-year-old brother, Daniel J.R. Davenport, is in the U.S. Army Reserves.

But he enlisted in the Marines while his mother was away so people would know that joining was his decision, the Rev. Hill said.

“When he believed in something, he lived it. He acted on it,” the Rev. Hill said. “He was a good man.”

The soldier’s quiet demeanor came from his father, but Lance Cpl. Davenport inherited his sense of humor from his mother. In the two weeks since the soldier’s death, his family has recalled stories of him pulling pranks, instigating a paint war in his grandfather’s house and performing surgery on a stuffed cat, the Rev. Hill said.

During the service, family members laughed when the Rev. Hill recalled how “Jimmy” loved monkeys.

Former Marines stood at attention when they heard the Marines’ Hymn. Scattered throughout the chapel, members of the Marine Corps League, soldiers in fatigues and several Blue Star Mothers - women with children serving during wartime - came to honor Lance Cpl. Davenport’s military service.

About 90 motorcyclists, members of the Patriot Guard Riders, surrounded the funeral home and burial service to honor him.

From the Mail

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