Posted on 11/15/2009 3:23:39 PM PST by Tank-FL
Monsignor Joseph L. Luca, pastor of St. Louis Church, sought to ease the grief of family, friends, and classmates from Mount St. Joseph High School and Virginia Military Institute - 1,200 in all - who gathered Saturday at the Clarksville Roman Catholic church to mourn the death of John Alexander Evans.
Evans, a 19-year-old VMI cadet from Highland who had graduated earlier this year from Mount St. Joe, died last Saturday in a Lexington, Va., hospital after collapsing in his barracks room upon completion of a 10-mile training march.
Autopsy results are expected this week.
"Our hearts go out to you. We can only imagine the pain and suffering you are experiencing at your great loss," said Luca.
"We cry with you today. We hold and embrace you in Christian love. We are here to be supportive of you and offer prayers and support in the days ahead," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
More - so sad
Daniel Evans, an older brother, gave an emotion-filled eulogy. After looking out from the altar at the sea of faces, he said, “Wow. What a view. My brother touched so many lives.”
Then he added: “He was the gentlest of giants on whose shoulders we stand today.”
Turning to a large contingent of VMI cadets dressed in gray uniforms and wearing black wrist bands inscribed with “John Evans,” his brother said, “His love of VMI ran deep. And by never giving up and staying the course, this will keep my brother’s memory alive.”
As the recessional hymn “On Eagles Wings” filled the sanctuary, pallbearers slowly wheeled Evans’ mahogany casket down the aisle, and family members followed.
At the rear of the church, the pall which had covered it during the Mass was removed, and replaced by a U.S. flag.
Outside, under a leaden sky and slight drizzle, an honor guard stood at attention, waited to salute the casket.
A bugler sounded taps. Then a seven-member firing squad offered a 21-gun salute whose sharp volleys echoed over a rain-sodden Howard County cornfield.
After the flag was removed and folded with military precision, an officer presented it to Evans’ mother with a crisp salute.
I visited VMI a few months ago and saw how the cadets and rats (first-years) train. They are all very loyal to VMI and especially to those in their year.
I was so excited that year watching CSPAN1....I avoid it now it hurts to much...politics that is..
Condolences to John Alexander Evans’ family, friends and VMI patriots.
America’s finest.
R.I.P. sir.
VMI '70
Three rifle volleys, not a 21-gun salute.
Years later his mother would receive a class ring from VMI from one of the men who was in Michael's class.
RIP John Evans.
RIP Michael Rowe.
The son of some friends at church was his room-mate. He was there when he died. He’s having a tough time of it.
Turn to his BR’s - as a group they can raise above this and overcome.
Good advice. That’s how I dealt with it when I was in the service. We were all brothers even if we otherwise couldn’t stand each other. We all felt it when we lost someone.
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