By Brian Livingston / blivingston@themeridianstar.com
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
It was a moment that unfortunately has been repeated throughout America in the years in which young men and women have gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A family, grief stricken over the loss of a loved one, huddled around the flag-draped coffin trying to console each other. Looking on in silence, military personnel, frozen in salute to a fallen comrade. In the background but no less respectful, law enforcement and emergency personnel from miles around who have come to pay homage to a young warrior. And then there are the members of organizations such as the Patriot Guard who may not even know what the soldier looked like, who by their presence lift up the memory of the soldier so others may not forget.
For the family of U.S. Army Sgt. Eric C. Newman, the arrival of his body via private jet to the Meridian Regional Airport was but one more step to saying goodbye. Arranged on the tarmac among the honor guard, personnel of the 186th Air Refueling Wing, law enforcement and emergency personnel were citizens who wanted to help the family say their final farewells. It was a confirmation of sorts in that the freedoms they enjoy are never without costs.
Newman was decorated for his military service in Iraq. The military says the 30-year-old soldier from Waynesboro died Oct. 14 from wounds suffered in a roadside bomb attack in Akatzai Kalay, Afghanistan.
Newman joined the Army in 2006 and soon deployed to Iraq. He went to Afghanistan with the 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Newman, a former police officer with the Waynesboro Police Department, is the third Mississippian this month to die in Afghanistan. At least 78 people from Mississippi or with strong ties to the state have died while serving in the military in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Newman had just gotten married last year and he was making plans to leave the military to become a state trooper.
Funeral services will be at 11 p.m. Saturday at Freeman Chapel. Burial follows at Hebron United Methodist Church Cemetery in Wayne County.
