Family, Friends Bid Final Farewell To Ramsey Soldier Killed In Afghanistan
RAMSEY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey soldier killed in Afghanistan was laid to rest Friday.
Family and friends gathered at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Ramsey to bid a final farewell to war veteran and native son, Army Staff Sgt. Timothy McGill.
"All of our hearts are broken, they're truly broken," said Susan Roche, who attended the funeral service. "These are all our sons and it's really very tragic."
McGill's flag-draped coffin was carried away in an old fire truck in a symbolic goodbye to a hometown boy who died serving his country, CBS 2's Don Champion reported.
The 30-year-old Special Forces soldier was killed by enemy fire on Sept. 21 in an attack in Gardez, an area near the Pakistan border.
McGill was a lifelong Ramsey resident. He graduated from Ramsey High School, where he played football, in 2001, was a volunteer firefighter for the town and worked for the public works department between deployments.
McGill enlisted with the Marines in August 2001 and was deployed to Iraq in 2005. He joined the Rhode Island National Guard in 2008 and qualified as an elite Special Forces soldier in 2011.
During his military career, McGill was awarded 28 valor awards including the Purple Heart.
Firefighters, police officers and military men and women from around the area also attended his funeral.
Gov. Chris Christie has ordered all state buildings to fly flags at half-staff on Friday to honor McGill.
Earlier this week. hundreds of people lined the mile-long Main Street to honor the fallen soldier as his body returned to his hometown.
McGill is the third soldier from Ramsey to be killed in action in three years.
In May, Ramsey native and Marine Special Forces Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian, 39, was killed in action in Farah Province. Like McGill, Christian was a football player at Ramsey High School.
Another Ramsey native, 23-year-old Cpl. Michael Jankiewicz, was killed on April 9, 2010 when the CV-22 Osprey he was flying in crashed in Zabul Province, Afghanistan.
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