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Forever in memories lie LI's own war heroes

Community, family and Marines salute Jared Kremm, the 13th LI person killed while serving in Iraq war

BY WIL CRUZ | STAFF WRITER

November 8, 2005

The life of Jared Kremm, the Long Island Marine killed in Iraq two weeks ago, came full circle yesterday.

It was at Trinity Lutheran Church in Islip in 1983 where Kremm was baptized as a child, a beginning of sorts to a life of 24 years that would take him to different parts of the world as a soldier.

Yesterday, hundreds of friends, family members and Marines came to the church to bid farewell to Kremm, his American flag-draped coffin resting at the center of the church.

"In baptism, there is hope even in tragic times," the Rev. David Wackenhuth said during his homily for Kremm.

A small American flag hung from a chain of papers decorated across the church, a tiny link to the more than 3,000 others who had been baptized there since 1927. The flag, a few feet above the coffin, was attached to Kremm's link, an informal note of each person's baptism at the church.

"Jared was a hero; you've heard that again and again," Wackenhuth told the mourners. "He's your hero."

Kremm, who was raised in Bay Shore but attended high school and later lived in Hauppauge, was killed Oct. 27 in an explosion in Saqlawiyah while his unit searched for mines and hidden weapons, the U.S. Defense Department has said. A lance corporal with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary, Kremm was serving his second tour in Iraq.

He was the 13th soldier from Long Island to die in the Iraq war and at least the third with ties to Bay Shore killed.

"There's still a great feeling of disbelief," said Kremm's uncle, Donald Young, 40. "It just doesn't seem real or possible."

Yesterday's goodbye began with a small service at the Chapey Funeral Home in East Islip. After a processional of cars made its way to nearby Trinity, six Marines carried Kremm's coffin out of a hearse and into the church. Several soldiers and police officers who lined a walkway saluted, right hands in white gloves, as the coffin passed.

Kremm's mother, Nancy Young Kremm, was directly behind them, leaning on family members for support.

The service, a unique blend of military solidarity and a heartfelt farewell from a Long Island community to one of its own, celebrated Kremm's life as a soldier, relative and friend. But his work in Iraq, his legacy, was the theme of the funeral.

"Every generation has produced Jared Kremms ... heroes so that we can be safer," said Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), who compared Kremm to revolutionaries who fought for American independence, the end of slavery and in World War II. "That is why Jared fought, and that's why he fell."

Cpl. Jose Soto, 27, who served with Kremm in Iraq, said his comrade had been a sparkplug, energizing the troops whenever there was a lull.

"If a job needed to be done," Soto said, "he would motivate the whole platoon to get it done."

Kremm was buried at Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton.