Name: Jeremy E. Murray, 27Died Nov. 16, 2005. Service: Marine Corps, sergeant, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force. Hometown: Atwater Township, Portage County. Biography: A graduate of Waterloo High School, Murray left a wife, Megan, and a son, Ian. He was serving his third tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed in a roadside bombing near Haditha, Iraq. Quote: ``If I don't come home, Dad, you know I died proudly. I died for what I wanted to do. This is my lifetime dream.'' -- Jeremy Murray conversation with his father, Harold Murray.
| `I died proudly'
Published Nov. 29, 2005
By Jim Carney and Julie Wallace
Beacon Journal staff writer ATWATER TWP. - Standing along state Route 44, in front of Rootstown High School, as a gentle rain fell, Henry Peyton and his classmates waited for the cortege of Marine Sgt. Jeremy E. Murray to pass. Peyton never knew Murray, but he was there with scores of other students to pay tribute to the first man from Portage County to die in the war in Iraq. Murray's death, said the 16-year-old, was tragic. ``He gave his life for this country's safety,'' he said. The funeral for Murray, 27, was held at his alma mater, Waterloo High School. He was killed Nov. 16, 2005, on his third tour of duty in Iraq. His wife, Megan, and 5-year-old son, Ian, were among more than 200 who gathered in the school's cafeteria and auditorium. Before and during the funeral, Ian Murray clutched a white teddy bear dressed in a Marine uniform that a family friend had brought him. His father's flag-draped casket rested in front of him at the base of the auditorium stage. Harold Murray, the boy's grandfather, officiated at the funeral for his only son. ``He did not lose his life in vain,'' Harold Murray said. ``I want you to know that he gave his life to preserve freedom. Your freedom.'' He said his son had told him before leaving for his last tour in Iraq, ``If I don't come home, Dad, you know I died proudly. I died for what I wanted to do. This is my lifetime dream.'' During the ceremony, Sgt. Murray's widow was presented with a Purple Heart, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and Gold Star for heroic achievement during his deployment. Pastor Norma Bates of the Charlestown United Methodist Church, the Murrays' church, said it was truly a ``God thing'' that school at Waterloo was closed on the day of the funeral because of the opening of deer hunting season and because Sgt. Murray was an avid deer hunter. ``That was prearranged,'' she said. Along U.S. 224 and on state Route 44, hundreds of people waited for the procession to pass and for the opportunity to show their respect. Dale Kisner, 58, of Atwater Township, waited along Industry Road. His daughter, Army Sgt. Jennifer Kisner, had just arrived in Iraq and knew Sgt. Murray. He said his daughter asked him to make sure he showed up along the funeral route. ``He is a hero,'' Kisner said of the Portage County Marine. Diane Bader of Alliance and her two daughters, 12-year-old Sheena and 11-year-old Megan, also waited along Industry Road. The girls had brought along extra flags to pass out to others. On state Route 44, firetrucks and firefighters from Palmyra, Randolph, Atwater, Brimfield, Rootstown and Edinburg townships and Ravenna joined civilians along the road to pay tribute. After the trek along state Route 44, the procession followed Interstate 76 west toward the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman. A little after 1 p.m., the cortege made its way to the cemetery, where a contingent of stiff-backed Marines from the 3rd Battalion from Akron stood in formal uniforms, unflinching in the steady drizzle. One by one, family members emerged from the stream of vehicles. The crowd filled the stone shelter where the Marines had placed the casket. After prayers and brief remarks, the group of white-gloved Marines lifted the flag from the casket as members of the Marine honor guard outside raised their rifles and fired in unison. The shots echoed across the rolling hills of the vast cemetery, jarring loose tears from many in the crowd. Slowly and carefully, the Marines inside the shelter folded the flag and presented it to the widow. A second flag, tightly folded, was given to Murray's parents. As with other recent active-duty deaths involving soldiers from Northeast Ohio, an honor guard from the Joint Veteran Council of Cuyahoga County was also in attendance. One member, dressed in his Vietnam-era camouflage uniform, noted, ``There's been too many of these.''
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