Farewell to fallen soldier

Catholic Church Bishop John Kinney from the Diocese of Saint Cloud is among the clergy at the funeral service for Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanson, 27, held Saturday in the Pelican Rapids High School gymnasium to hold all the family, friends and military personnel. Hanson, a resident of Dent, MN, was killed in action August 30, in Iraq. Dave Wallis / The Forum

By Dave Roepke, The Forum

PELICAN RAPIDS, Minn. – With hundreds packed into the high school gym and leather-clad bikers standing vigil on the schoolyard, a community paid its respects to a fallen soldier Saturday.

The funeral for Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanson of the nearby town of Dent nearly filled the gymnasium at his high school alma mater. Scripture readings and songs, including a rendition of “Amazing Grace” with Hanson’s lone sibling Jake singing and playing guitar, comprised the bulk of the 90-minute Mass.

But clergy directing the service also spoke about the 27-year-old National Guardsman directly. Speaking from a makeshift pulpit flanked by flowers, photos and a rifle topped with a helmet, the Rev. Arlie Sowada called Hanson a good soldier and a good man.

“He lived and gave his life for the power of God,” Sowada said. “That truth and power was expressed in the way he lived.”

Hanson was a 10-year veteran of the Guard, assigned to Company A, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry out of Detroit Lakes. He served for six months in Bosnia in 2004 and shipped off to Iraq in March for a second overseas hitch after five months of training in Mississippi.

Before and after the service, more than 100 members of the Patriot Guard Bikers – an ad hoc national group of veterans and motorcyclists who attend funerals of active-duty soldiers – lined the sidewalks in front of the school, most of them holding American flags.

Near the end of the Mass, a military officer presented Hanson’s family with several awards, including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. The Blue Star Mothers chapter from Alexandria presented his parents with a gold star, symbolizing a child who died in the line of duty.

Shortly before that, Bishop John Kinney of the Diocese of St. Cloud spoke about Hanson, whom he confirmed in 1996.

“The question I asked then was, ‘What was the most generous thing you’ve ever done in your life?’ ” Kinney said.

“Through our prayers, we now escort him right to the brink,” the bishop said. “I think he’ll demonstrate the answer to that question.”

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders hold flags as they line the street outside Pelican Rapids High School on Saturday for the funeral of Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanson of Dent, Minn., who was killed in action in Iraq. Dave Wallis / The Forum