Jacob McMillan laid to rest

One by one, they paid their respects with tears and embraces.

After those who had come to honor U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jacob Gerald McMillan left to continue the celebration of the 25-year-old's life, his mother stayed behind to watch her son lowered into the ground.

She pushed off her shoes and stood in the grass as workers enshrouded her son's casket with a hard plastic cover. As they began securing the cover, she walked over to join them, grabbing a clasp and bolting it.

As the casket was slowly lowered, she briefly held her hand to the coffin, then let go.

Now is the time to celebrate her son, Jacob's mother told mourners just moments before.

Jacob McMillan, son of Kathryn McMillan and Gerald McMillan, died Dec. 20 in Baghdad after the uparmored Humvee he was riding in was attacked by enemy fire.

McMillan, died Dec. 20 in Baghdad after the uparmored Humvee he was riding in was attacked by enemy fire.

The vehicle was attacked with small arms fire after an improvised explosive device was detonated nearby.

On Friday, he was laid to rest with his friend, U.S. Army Spc. Joseph Thibodeaux, 24, who was killed in northern Iraq in 2004.

The two boys grew up together and were inseparable in high school, and it was only natural that they be able to rest together, Kathryn McMillan told mourners.

McMillan was a paratrooper assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

He was deployed to Iraq on Oct. 6.

On Friday, his parents were presented with his Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service to his country.

It was right after high school graduation in 1999 that he joined the Army.

His enlistment came as no surprise to his best friend, Trey Axum.

"As long as I've known him, he's wanted to serve his country," Axum said.

The two had been friends since they were in the fifth grade.

"I'm very proud of him. He died doing what he and I both believed in," Axum said. "I'm a special agent with Homeland Security and I always told him when he got out of the service he needed to come and work with me as my partner."

Family friend Jackie Melancon will remember a Jacob who was thoughtful - who sent thank you letters. McMillan and her son, Adam, were friends in high school. Melancon would often drive the boys to school in her small Eclipse Spyder convertible.

"Jacob was so tall, and he'd ride in that car," she smiled. "One day, he got in and had a Band-Aid over his eyebrow, and I asked him what happened, 'You got stitches?' He had pierced his eyebrow and was covering it before he got to school."

The young man's death is another emotional blow to the group of friends, who are still mourning Thibodeaux.

"I can't believe another one," Melancon shook her head. "When Joe died, I thought he would be the only one for us."

McMillan had been stationed at Fort Richardson in Alaska since 2004.

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