Community buries Iowa soldier

By The Associated Press | Tuesday, January 09, 2007

TODAY: (Updated 3:38 p.m.) OTTUMWA, Iowa — A community said farewell Monday to a soldier killed in Iraq, remembering him as a hero ``because of the way he lived.''

   Cpl. Jonathan E. Schiller, 20, of Ottumwa, died on Dec. 31 when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee while he was on combat patrol in Baqubah, Iraq. He was a member of the 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

   About 600 people attended his funeral in the auditorium at Ottumwa High School.

   ``He's not a hero because he died. He's a hero because of the way he lived,'' said 2nd Lt. John Paluska, an Army infantry officer and Ottumwa High School graduate who was wounded by a bomb in Iraq six weeks ago.

   Paluska remembered Schiller as someone who could make anyone smile. He also remembered the day he heard Schiller had joined the Army.

   ``I called him up, and welcomed him into the brotherhood,'' Paluska said. ``I realized he had grown into a man. I could hear the loyalty ... in his voice.''

   Paluska said he wasn't surprised to hear that Schiller had become a leader in the Army. He drew laughs when he said Schiller had always been a leader, even in high school when he had displayed leaderhip qualities of a different sort — getting friends to make prank phone calls for him.

   ``The Army molded him into a professional soldier and gentleman,'' Paluska said.

   Sgt. Stanley Struthers said he and Schiller became good friends as they worked on military vehicles together. He read e-mails from other soldiers in the 1st Cavalry who said no matter how bad things got, Schiller could always make them laugh.

   The Rev. Paul Smith said Schiller, although fun-loving, wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

   At the request of Schiller's family, the service ended with the singing of ``God Bless America.'' As the music played, a slide-show of Schiller's life was played across a large screen.

   Afterward, Schiller's flag-draped casket was carried from the auditorium and down the stairs from the high school. Outside the school, dozens of American flags rippled and snapped in the wind as ``Amazing Grace'' was played on the bagpipes. Overhead, five bald eagles circled as Schiller's casket was loaded into a hearse, which carried it to Silent City Cemetery in Monroe, where Schiller was buried.