An Army medic's former high school classmates and many residents of Coraopolis and Moon turned out to salute the fallen soldier today.
About 250 people, including Moon Area High School football players, attended a somber funeral for Spc. Matthew Bowe at the Presbyterian Church of Coraopolis. Spc. Bowe, 19, was killed with two comrades when a roadside bomb exploded under their vehicle in Iraq on Feb. 19.
Flags were at half-staff and businesses along Fifth Avenue posted signs of condolence for the 2005 Moon High graduate, who was a cornerback on the football team. Students at St. Joseph Catholic School turned out in their school uniforms, some holding flags and many with their hands over their hearts, as the procession passed by after the service.
During the funeral, the Rev. Dennis Sevick rememberd Spc. Bowe as a Cub Scout and Sunday school student. He related how Spc. Bowe had pulled a wounded soldier from a battle after another bomb detonation in Iraq. The wounded man later died, but his parents got to see him, the pastor said.
He said Spc. Bowe was a polite, intensely religious young man and urged the mourners to be more like him.
Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata presented the Bowe family with the Bronze Star and Purple Heart and read from tributes sent by members of the 10th Mountain Division, which Gen. Tata leads.
The general said medics are held in high esteem. He said Matthew was a Biblical name, the name of a "selfless servant." Spc. Bowe, he said, was just such a selfless servant.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published: March 1, 2007, 5:00 a.m.