Carl Seigart laid to rest

PICAYUNE — Staff Sgt. Carl Leonard Seigart sent his wife a Valentine’s Day card from Iraq earlier this month. It arrived Wednesday, the day before his funeral.

Family, friends and fellow soldiers honored Seigart today. His words to his wife — written before a roadside bomb killed him — echoed at his funeral.

“It was like a message from heaven,” Susan Seigart said of the card from her husband. “He said he loved me and he said, ’Your love for me makes me confident you are waiting for me.”’

Seigart, 32, was awarded a Bronze Star posthumously. The tank mechanic and three others based at Fort Hood, Texas, died in the Feb. 15 blast in Baqubah. They belonged to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.

The native of San Luis Obispo, Calif., was in the Army 14 years and was serving his first tour in Iraq when he was killed. He is one of some 50 members of the military with ties to Mississippi killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Seigart received a 21-gun salute and his wife was given his Bronze Star and the flag used to drape his coffin.

Brig. Gen. Leon Collins, who also served in Iraq, said he did not personally know the fallen soldier.

“But that does not dampen the empty feeling I have,” Collins said. “We have something in common because we each raised our hand and uttered the same oath to protect this country and the people of this country.”

From the Ledger

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