Thursday, 4:30 PM
Soldier receives grand send-off
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff
NORFOLK -- Honor, courage, determination, humor, friendship, and faith.
Those are the attributes Army Sergeant Adam P. Kennedy represented to his brother Colin and six of the soldier’s friends, who eulogized the Iraq casualty Tuesday before several hundred mourners at St. Jude’s Church.
"Adam was my best friend and also my hero," Colin Kennedy said from the pulpit. "He went out and lived his childhood dream."
When Colin Kennedy was finished and when all the tributes and consolations were over, Kennedy’s relatives, friends, comrades, and neighbors stood at their pews and filled the overflowing church with the sound of a long, standing ovation.
Kennedy, 25, was killed April 8 when a roadside bomb ripped apart his Humvee about 25 miles southeast of Baghdad. A graduate of Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood and Norwich University in Vermont, Kennedy had been in Iraq since October with the Fourth Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division.
Kennedy is the 51st member of the armed forces from Massachusetts to be killed in Iraq. Thirteen from the state have died in Afghanistan.
A football linebacker at Xaverian Brothers and a star weight lifter, Kennedy graduated first in his class from Army basic training after he was rejected by the Marines because of concussions he suffered while playing football.
Kennedy oversaw the security detail for the colonel commanding his brigade. Although the unit faced daily danger, including mortar attacks and roadside explosions, Kennedy kept his thoughts on Iraq even when he visited home on leave in December, his brother said.
Monsignor Peter Conley, who was principal celebrant for the funeral Mass, reminded the gathering of that sacrifice.
"Adam’s death comes from our human freedom, which can be a blessing or a curse," Conley said. "Let it not be whispered that Adam Kennedy died in vain."
Mourners included Governor Deval Patrick, members of the military, and officers from local and State Police. A broadcast feed from the service was relayed to the church basement, which was used to accommodate part of the crowd on a cold, wet morning.
