National Guard Soldiers laid to rest

Rockland bids a soldier farewell
Boston Globe - United States
February 2, 2009
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

ROCKLAND -- A bagpipe player led a winding procession today past several thousand mourners standing on Union Street, his tune echoing off storefronts, city offices, and homes.

They cried as the white, horse-drawn caisson carrying the casket of Massachusetts National Guard Specialist Matthew Pollini passed. Members of the military stood at attention, and veterans offered a salute. Schoolchildren waved small US flags through the air.

The caisson stopped in front of the Holy Family Church, where six servicemen and women carried the flag-draped coffin into the half-filled church. Within moments, 800 of the mourners who had waited outside for the procession filled the church.
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Wading River soldier remembered
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA

Sgt. Jonathan Keller, Army National Guardsman, front left, of Wading River is seen here training at Fort Bragg, NC in 2008 prior to deploying to Afghanistan. (Photo by Charles Eckert)

A Wading River soldier who died nine months after he was wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan was remembered at his hometown church Monday before being laid to rest at Calverton National Cemetery.

Spc. Jonathan Keller, 29, an Army National Guardsman, was shot in the arm and shoulder during a firefight near the Pakistan border in April.

He died Jan. 24 in Fort Bragg, N.C. His death is under investigation and the circumstances remained unclear on Monday.

During his funeral at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, packed with more than 400 friends and family, the Rev. James Pereda recalled Keller's "infectious smile" and said he had "a boyish and youthful enthusiasm for everything in life."
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