Mourners say farewell to 2 slain soldiers

QUINCY - Ciara M. Durkin was remembered yesterday as a quirky woman whose smile lit up a room, a person who considered the well-being of others before herself.

She was remembered as "Ciara with the wild red hair."

About 2,000 people packed St. John the Baptist Church for her funeral Mass, with mourners standing in the back of the church and several hundred more outside. Durkin, a 30-year-old Army National Guard corporal from Quincy, died Sept. 28 in Afghanistan from what the military has called a "noncombat related" gunshot wound to the head. Military officials are investigating the circumstances of her death, which occurred in a secure area of Bagram Air Base.

Durkin was one of two Army soldiers with New England ties commemorated yesterday. Family and friends of Sergeant Zachary D. Tellier, 31, honored him at a service on Cape Cod.

During the two-hour Mass yesterday, Durkin's older sister, Aine Durkin, read in Gaelic and again in English a 24-line poem she wrote for Ciara. Each verse ended with the phrase "the wild red hair."

Pierce Durkin, the soldier's brother, said during the funeral Mass, "there were parts of her that we didn't understand. She could be flighty at times, messy at times, and she sometimes had gross habits. But when you think of her smiling face, you think of a time when she made your day brighter. She was unselfish to a fault, and her physical well-being didn't matter. It was our well-being that made her happy."

Born in Ireland, Durkin moved with her family to the United States when she was a child. Yesterday, her Irish heritage and her US citizenry were remembered in word and song. Mourners sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and immediately after sang the Irish National Anthem in Gaelic.

As the ceremony drew to a close inside the church, the Rev. Raymond Kiley walked around Durkin's casket carrying a thurible that gave off plumes of incense smoke. The act, he said, was a blessing of the soldier's body, and the smoke that rose to the rafters symbolized mourners' prayers.

At the conclusion, the crowd, including Governor Deval Patrick and Senator John F. Kerry, filed outside and formed a circle around the flag-draped coffin. In a ceremony that lasted about 30 minutes, Major General Joseph Carter, the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, handed Durkin's mother, Angela, several commendations awarded posthumously to her daughter.

Many in the crowd shuddered as a deafening noise pierced the quiet air - a rifle salute to the fallen corporal.

As the mourners made their way to their vehicles, Carter told several reporters "to serve this great nation during a very troubling time, that is the personification of her sacrifice."

Details remained sketchy about Durkin's death.

The family has questioned whether she was targeted because she was gay. According to Doug Bailey, a spokesman for the Durkin family, Ciara had called home the day before she died and several hours before she died, indicating she was looking forward to returning home.

Another sister of Durkin's, Fiona Canavan, said in an interview with WGBH-TV this week, "She did say to us that she had concerns about things she was seeing when she was over there. She told us if anything happened to her, that we were to investigate."

Durkin is the first openly gay member of the military to be killed in Afghanistan or Iraq, according to the Servicemembers Defense Legal Network, which provides legal help to gay service members.

Although there is no evidence that Durkin was a victim of a hate crime, her death prompted some gay and lesbian groups to renew their calls to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, which President Clinton approved in 1993 as a compromise between ending a ban on gays in the military and allowing gays to serve openly.

Durkin's death "shows our country what a significant sacrifice lesbian and gay service members are making in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Defense Legal Network.

Mourners remembered Tellier yesterday in a service at Chapman Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Falmouth.

Tellier died Sept. 29 from wounds he sustained last April while on ground patrol in Afghanistan. A combat infantryman stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., Tellier had lived for several years in Westford before moving to New Hampshire in the mid-'80s.

"Today, we had a celebration of his life, which included a lot more that his military service," said his father, David W. Tellier, of Groton, by phone. "He was a great man and a great leader, and I'm very proud of him."

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in yesterday’s Sunday’s City & Region section about the death of Army Sergeant Zachary D. Tellier in Afghanistan wrongly said he died of wounds sustained in April. Tellier, who recovered from his previous injuries and received a Bronze Star, died of gunshot wounds suffered on Sept. 29.