Md. Marine Credited With Devotion to Faith, Family and Troops

'Servant Leader' Is Buried at Arlington
Md. Marine Credited With Devotion to Faith, Family and Troops
By Mark Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2008; Page B03

Marine Corps Capt. Jesse Melton III was remembered as a man of faith and devotion who would have taken a bullet for his fellow Marines and who helped others and worked for the greater good.

Melton died thousands of miles from his native Maryland, but his journey ended yesterday with his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Melton, 29, of Randallstown, Md., died Sept. 9 when the Humvee in which he was riding hit a makeshift bomb in Afghanistan's Parwan province, according to the Defense Department and family members.

Before his deployment to Afghanistan in March, Melton told his mother that he had a feeling he would be wounded or killed. She asked whether he wanted to avoid going, but he didn't consider it, despite that he might not return.

"He said, 'If I don't, I win. I'm going to be with the Lord,' " Janice Chance told The Washington Post last week.

Hundreds of mourners filled dozens of cars and trekked to the cemetery after a funeral at Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown. Melton's family and friends followed a Marine Corps band west on Bradley Drive and pivoted onto the south side of the cemetery's Section 60.
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