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Published May 12, 2006 11:49 pm - JAMESTOWN — Flags and tears lined the streets of Jamestown Friday afternoon. They guided Staff Sgt. David Veverka’s body to Randall Funeral Home. A soldier's sad return Jamestown honors fallen soldier By Eric Reinagel 5/13/06 —
JAMESTOWN — Flags and tears lined the streets of Jamestown Friday afternoon. They guided Staff Sgt. David Veverka’s body to Randall Funeral Home. David was severely injured in Iraq May 6 after a roadside blast tore through his convoy. He died a few hours later in a military hospital near Baghdad. Jamestown is a borough of nearly 1,200 people, and about half the town was on hand to pay their respects to David on Friday. Jamestown schools let out early so children could be present when a police escort led the hearse to the funeral home. Not since Vietnam has Jamestown seen a serviceman killed. David was 25. “I give him a huge amount of credit for the sacrifice he’s made for the rest of us, but the kind of kid he was in school, it doesn’t surprise me that he was willing to do this,” said David’s boyhood teacher, Robin Sasse. “(David was) one of the better students I’ve ever seen, ever had privilege of coming through Jamestown, very conscientious, played basketball with a passion, took time for everybody, was kind to everybody, but so much fun to be around,” she said. “Just a great guy all around, the whole family actually, it’s a great family. Very large family, very tight-night and it’s been nice to see how everyone has really rallied around them.” Sasse said the atmosphere at school has been difficult this week because many of David’s relatives are school employees. There are also many employees who either taught David or graduated with him. “It’s been nice in one way in that we’ve seen the town come together,” said Sasse. “It’s been kind of drawn out. This happened on Saturday. It’s almost a week later. People need some finality and this (event) at least helps to get that process started, rather than being in limbo.” “You’ve got to understand this kid was one of our bright kids in town,” said Veterans of Foreign War 5424 Post Commander Jim Young. David won the Voices of Democracy contest sponsored by the post and his speech/essay eventually was entered in the state-level competition. The 1999 graduate of Jamestown High joined the Army as a way to help pay for college. Veverka was eight credits shy of his bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology at the University of Maine in Bangor. Two Jamestown men serving in the National Guard set to be shipped off to Iraq July 17, saluted David’s body as it passed. 
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