Marco Miller laid to rest

WARREN — Sgt. Marco L. Miller loved giving to others.

On the day he was laid to rest, more than two dozen soldiers from the Florida National Guard traveled to Ohio to help bury their comrade. What they found was a community that was both mourning and celebrating a life.

‘‘He was a very good soldier,’’ 1st Sgt. Kevin Booth, 3rd Battalion Support Company, 20th Special Forces, said Friday. ‘‘He was a quiet man, but he always was willing to help. He was very professional in his duties, always there for the junior soldiers.’’

Miller’s death has been particularly hard for Booth because Miller is the first of his 400-member unit to have been killed in action.

‘‘Obviously, we’re mourning his loss,’’ Booth said. ‘‘He was basically a gentle giant.’’

Miller was in Iraq for about five months before he was wounded in an attack Dec. 3. He died two days later in a military hospital in Germany.

Lindel Trimble, dressed in a dark suit, walked out of Grace AME Church choked up with emotion after seeing the body of one of his oldest friends.

‘‘We both were born and raised on the north end of the city,’’ Trimble said. ‘‘He was two years younger than me. He played football with my brother.’’

Miller was at the Trimble family’s house all of the time when they were growing up.

‘‘We were extremely close,’’ Trimble said. ‘‘He (Miller) could be silly at times. What I will always remember is his laugh. He had a silly laugh.’’

Warren resident Steve Baugh also grew up with the Millers and played football with Marco Miller from junior high through high school.

‘‘He was a tailback, and I was a receiver,’’ he said.

When he first heard news of Miller’s death, Baugh didn’t want to believe it.

‘‘I didn’t until I saw his picture in the newspaper,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s when I knew it was true.

‘‘I feel bad for his child,’’ he said. ‘‘She will never get to know her father.’’

Tamia Michelle Miller was born in August after her father had been deployed to Iraq.

Several motorcycle clubs, including the Second Brigade and the Patriot Guard, attended the funeral and lined Main Avenue and South Street as the funeral procession traveled from Grace AME Church to Oakwood Cemetery.

Mark ‘‘Hollywood’’ Taylor, a member of Second Brigade, said the group attends funerals and other programs for veterans and soldiers who are killed in war.

‘‘It is guys like Sgt. Marco Miller who are protecting each of the freedoms we take for granted,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘They make these freedoms possible for us.’’

Second Brigade is a veteran support motorcycle club that honors all veterans.

Members of the Patriot Guard also travel across to country to pay tribute to the sacrifices of fallen soldiers.

‘‘We are here to show respect for the family and to honor the soldier’s family,’’ Raymond F. Bishop, president of the local chapter of the Patriot Guard, said. ‘‘We are here at the invitation of the family. It is an honor for us to participate.

‘‘I was lucky enough to do 28 years in the military and to have come back home in one piece,’’ Bishop said. ‘‘We have young men and women in the military today who are dying today. We can’t take that lightly.’’

Dave Shaffer of Leavittsburg and members of Trumbull County Storm Chasers stood on the corner of Main and South Street with flags to show support not only to Miller’s family, but to all the military members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

‘‘Without Sgt. Miller and others like him, we would not have any freedoms at all,’’ Shaffer said.

Holding a flag in his tiny hands, Keion Burks, 8, stood in front of the Warren Fire Department with about 60 other Warren elementary school children.

However, the funeral procession was more poignant to Keion and his grandmother, Bonnie Burks, because his father, Aaron, was in Iraq in 2003 when an improvised explosive device exploded, hitting Burks on the left side of his body and his head. He received a medical discharge.

‘‘I was glad when my father came home,’’ Keion said.

Bonnie Burks said, ‘‘Aaron was lucky. He survived.’’

She said she understands the emotions mothers have when they receive that phone call from the military saying their child has been severely injured by an explosion.

‘‘There is no more painful feeling in the world,’’ she said. ‘‘You just wonder if he will survive. We were blessed it was not a fatal wound.’’

From the Repository

Related Link:
Marco L. Miller dies from injuries sustained in mortar attack