Joshua Sheppard laid to rest

QUINTON — Picketers didn’t show up at all, but supporters did.

Dozens of police officers, bikers and others attended the Thursday afternoon funeral of Spc. Joshua Sheppard, a 22-year-old Quinton High School graduate killed in Iraq on Dec. 22.

The Westboro Baptist Church, a group from Topeka, Kan., that has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, had threatened to picket the funeral.

“They’re Satan’s disciples,” said Quinton resident Sweetwater Kendrick, a Vietnam veteran. “We’re livid about this, about them planning to protest.

“They can’t let a young man have his last moments above ground in peace.”

The funeral for the heavy equipment operator from the 10th Mountain Division was in the Quinton Elementary School gymnasium, one of the few places in town big enough to hold the crowd.

Two of Sheppard’s brothers let everyone attending his funeral know in what high esteem they held their slain brother.

“You were my rock, my protector,” said his youngest brother, Ricky.

Brother Samuel, who is a Marine, said Joshua was “a great young man, and a great soldier.”

A Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, a Good Conduct Medal, an Iraqi Campaign medal, and a War on Terrorism medal were placed on Sheppard’s closed and flag-draped coffin near the end of the funeral service. Duplicate sets of the awards were given to his family members.

People who didn’t attend the funeral proper went to the ends of their driveways or lined the roads leading from the school to the Lona Valley Cemetery, where Sheppard was buried with full military honors provided by an honor guard from Fort Sill.

The procession to the cemetery was about 1 1/2 miles long and included numerous law-enforcement and emergency vehicles from surrounding towns and counties.

From the McAlester News

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