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| Military pallbearers carry a coffin with the body of Lt. Col. James L. Wiley Jr. from a charter aircraft to a waiting hearse Friday afternoon, in North Bend. Wiley was with the U.S. Army and was killed last week in Afghanistan. Family members gathered at the Southwestern Oregon Regional Airport for a short ceremony with prayers from The Rev. Karl Schray on the tarmac. World Photo by Lou Sennick
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Soldiers recall Lt. Col. Wiley's friendship, love of family
Monday, September 29, 2008 6:11 AM PDT
The bleachers in the gymnasium at North Bend High School, where 1979 graduate Lt. James L. Wiley Jr. worked out with classmates years ago, filled with family, friends and dignitaries. There were fellow soldiers, too. They came to pay their respects today.
The 46-year-old Wiley, in the 27th Brigade Combat Team, New York Army National Guard, died Sept. 18 at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Today the community honored him for his service as a countryman, a man who looked after his comrades, his friendship, but most of all for his love for his family.
Songs were sung, such as “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and “Did You Ever Know That You’re My Hero,” with a screen backdrop showing photos of Wiley’s wife, Teresa, and three daughters and other family members and friends — young children in the snow in Germany, lounging on the couch in North Bend and serving with the troops in Afghanistan.
A bagpipe player led a line of immediate family, friends, soldiers and Gov. Ted Kulongoski to their seats. Soldiers saluted the casket, which was draped with the American flag. The Rev. Karl Schray officiated, saying Wiley was “one of our own, who died while serving the cause of peace.”
“When I think of Jim, I think of compassion, steel and love,” said Major Jose Cora.
He stood at the podium next to a fallen soldier’s memorial displaying Wiley’s tools of battle — his boots, rifle, helmet and dog tags. He described Wiley as his boss, his mentor and his friend.
He spoke of when he first met Wiley, and of how Wiley helped a soldier who had taken a bullet to the head from an insurgent. The man’s face was completely wrapped in bandages. Following his injuries, when his clothes were being cut off, the soldier’s wallet carrying $750 had been lost. The U.S. Army at that time had a policy to not replace lost cash. Wiley started writing letters. The Army changed its policy.
He has compassion for “doing everything he can to help soldiers out,” Cora said.
Wiley was like steel, he said. Cora recalled one time when he stood up to an irate colonel.
He remembered Wiley for love, for everything he did for his family — his wife and daughters, Jamie Noelle, Ruth Nadine and Sarah Teresa, all residents of Germany.
Wiley’s Army Reserve Commander, Joseph Cerreto told the mourners that when he first met Wiley, he learned all about the Wiley’s wife and girls.
But when it came to the battlefield, he said, Wiley always made sure the soldiers knew where they could and couldn’t go when near enemy lines and that they felt safe with him.
“Jim was more than just a soldier,” Cerreto said. “Jim took care of the soldiers.”
North Bend Mayor Rick Wetherell spoke of being Wiley’s football coach at North Bend Junior High School.
“He was 12. I was 30,” Wetherell said. “But he was wiser than I.”
He joked about how tough he was with Wiley, and how he “hollered at him a lot” on the football field.
“If I had known that Jimmy was going to become a lieutenant colonel, I would have treated him with more respect,” Wetherell said. “He was seriously intense, with a smile. He was a rare combination.”
Thinking of Wiley, Wetherell quoted Martin Luther King, who said, “The man who is not willing to die for something is not fit to live.”
Wetherell said Wiley was wrong when he said he was not a hero.
“James was right in most things in his life, but he was wrong right there,” Wetherell said.
Kulongoski laid his hand on the casket before his talk. He said Wiley was a “lifelong patriot” and an outstanding member of the Oregon National Guard and New York National Guard.
“And a great Bulldog we will never forget,” Kulongoski said.
The governor recalled a year ago attending the high school for a similar ceremony for U.S. Army Special Forces Engineer Sgt. 1st Class Adrian Marcos Elizalde, and also coming to the Bay Area for a funeral for U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Steven Stacy in July 2007 and Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bryan Bertrand in 2002.
“I know the terrible price you paid, not for one war, but two,” he told community members.
He said he saw Wiley’s role as something greater than serving on one of the toughest battlefields. He commended Wiley’s effort to first have his mother and volunteers send warm clothing for soldiers in Germany during the bitter cold of winter, then to send hats and scarves for the children of Afghanistan.
“He was a true citizen soldier,” Kulongoski said, “a burning light of generosity.”
The outpouring of love and sadness came also from Wiley’s good friend Stephen Malone, who accompanied Wiley’s widow to the podium.
“Before Jim left, I made him a promise,” Malone said. “He loved me enough to ask me to watch over his family. I’m honored to do that now.”
Wiley’s widow rested her head on Malone’s shoulder following her speech about her husband. She said she met him while she was working at the deli in Safeway.
“He told me you can be anything, have anything in life if you really want it,” she said. “The only thing that doesn’t leave my life perfect is I don’t have him in my arms.”
Wiley’s mother, Ruth Wiley, talked about a story she told Friday night about a dragonfly that rose out of the water, only to find it had grown wings and couldn’t return to its friends.
It went “into the wonderful world of sun and air,” Wiley said.
After Friday’s ceremony, she said a woman asked her to come back into the church to see something.
“It was the biggest dragonfly I’ve ever seen,” Wiley said. “I think it was a sign Jim is still around looking after us.”
Oregon Army National Guard Capt. Chris Clyne presented Wiley’s family with a Gold Star Lapel Button as a symbol of the family’s loss. Clyne also awarded Wiley the Bronze Star, Combat Action, Afghanistan Campaign and Global War on Terrorism Service medals.
“He was a soldier who loved his uniform, a soldier who lived to serve,” Clyne said. “Now we know our comrade’s battle is done.”
Then Army and servicemen from other branches of the military stood in line to pay homage to Wiley before following the processional to Sunset Memorial Cemetery south of Coos Bay. |
