Procession escorts ex-SEAL to burial

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February 13, 2013

Procession escorts ex-SEAL to burial

By Paul J. Weber and Jamie Stengle Associated Press Wed Feb 13, 2013, 01:18 AM CST

AUSTIN, Texas — After a 200-mile journey, former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was buried Tuesday in Austin as his family members and fellow SEALS looked on amid the sounds of drums and bagpipes.

A giant Texas flag flew at half-staff over the Texas State Cemetery as Kyle was laid to rest. Kyle, considered to be the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, was killed along with a friend earlier this month while at a North Texas gun range.

A white hearse carrying Kyle’s flag-draped coffin was among 200 vehicles in a procession that left Tuesday morning from Kyle’s hometown of Midlothian to travel to Austin. Many motorists pulled to the side of roads to watch the procession that included motorcycles, motor coaches, police cruisers and other vehicles.

It briefly came to a halt when three motorcycles in the procession went down just north of Austin, sending two people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Belton police Sgt. Larry Berg said.

Larry Key, one of about 100 Patriot Guard Riders who gathered for the event, said he came in tribute to Kyle’s service. Kyle, 37, completed four tours in Iraq and wrote the best-selling book “American Sniper.”

“It’s our way of honoring Chris and his family,” said Key, a Vietnam veteran from Denton.

In Austin, hundreds of people gathered on roads stretching nearly a mile from the cemetery. Many who came to watch the procession were combat veterans in leather jackets who parked their motorcycles three wide around the permitted area of the gravesite. Others were businessmen in suits on their lunch break from the nearby Capitol, families with strollers and at least one jogger taking a break from a run.

Mike Lamb, 24, stood about a half-mile from the cemetery wearing a mustard yellow Marine Corps shirt and holding a sign that read, “Fair Winds and Calm Seas Frogman! R.I.P.”

Lamb said he called in sick from work to see the procession. Because of that, he was at first reluctant to give his name. But he then rationalized that it didn’t matter. Next month, Lamb is leaving for boot camp in the Marines.

“(Kyle) was the last person that I would have expected to end up like that,” Lamb said. “Because he was so into Wounded Warriors and helping soldiers with (post-traumatic stress disorder). He was a warrior overseas and at home.”

An Iraq War veteran, Eddie Ray Routh, 25, has been charged in the killings of Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. Routh’s brother-in-law told authorities that Routh had recently been diagnosed with PTSD.

Authorities say Kyle, Littlefield and Routh arrived together at the Rough Creek Lodge shooting range on the afternoon of Feb. 2. Routh later fled in Kyle’s truck.

On Monday, some 7,000 people attended a two-hour memorial service for Kyle at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Kyle’s coffin was placed at the star at midfield.

Littlefield’s funeral was Friday in Midlothian.

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