A journey's end

By April M. Silvaggio  

JANUARY 21, 2010 3:01 p.m. (0)

Just before 1 p.m. Thursday, the lights of a Dessault Falcon 20 jet broke through the dark grey clouds above the runway at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, ending Geoff Whitsitt’s journey home.

The 21-year-old U.S. Army private first class was killed Jan. 13 in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle.

The jet taxied to a stop outside the hanger at Stevens Aviation and a military honor guard was waiting to carry his body to a waiting hearse.

Fewer than 10 people stood in the cold, dim hangar watching. His parents were among them. They had asked for privacy.

Today was his mother’s birthday.

School friends, military veterans in American Legion regalia and strangers who simply wanted to pay their respects stood together in the biting cold and freezing rain.

A line of between 15 and 20 Patriot Guard Riders on their motorcycles lined the road in front of the hanger waiting to provide an escort to Wood Mortuary on West Poinsett Street in downtown Greer.

Most all of the motorcycles flew an American Flag on the back.

Some also flew the white, blue and red flag of the U.S. Army.

Others flew the yellow and blue flag of the Patriot Guard Riders, a nationally recognized group of motorcycle enthusiasts whose main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Their mission is to show respect and shield the family and friends from unwanted interruptions.

Many among the Patriot Guard Riders are military veterans themselves.

Chris Slater, who said he’d known Whitsitt since middle school, had been in such a hurry to get to the airport, he forgot his jacket.

He shivered as he waited, grasping an American flag in his hand.

“He always had a heart to serve,” Slater said. “For me, this is the hardest loss I’ve ever had to experience. He was like a brother to me.”

Family and friends said Whitsitt knew from the time he was about 4-years-old that he wanted to serve his country.

“He was doing what he always wanted to do,” Slater said.

Whitsitt, a military police officer, was assigned to the 118^th Military Police Company (Airborne), 503^rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne), 16^th Military Police Brigade (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.

He was headed to Special Forces Training in hopes of becoming an Army Ranger.

Whitsitt was working out of Combat Outpost McClain when his vehicle was attacked. He and another soldier, 25-year-old Staff Sgt. Daniel D. Merriweather of Collierville, Tenn., were killed.

He was remembered Tuesday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by Fourth District Congressman Bob Inglis, R-S.C., who called Whitsitt a hero.

“He was a believer in America, and the King of all Creation,” Inglis said. “He was a citizen of the freest, most blessed land in the world, and a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Inglis said Whitsitt will live on in other youngsters like him who “come in last in his first Cross Country meet and finish 16^th in the state by the end of the season.”

He will live on in other little boys who go with their dads to the banks of the Middle Saluda River for fishing and talks about the essence of life, Inglis said.

Whitsitt took what he had learned of love, books and faith in his home schooling and at Greenville Tech Charter High School and volunteered to serve his nation.

“He lives in our hearts and minds because he is one of our heroes,” Inglis said. “He lives in the heart of his older brother Steven, serving with steely determination in the United States Navy. He will always live in the hearts of his mom and dad. They loved him, led him, admired him and gave him up for the rest of us.”

Steven Whitsitt is an MN3 Sonar Tech in charge of maintaining and operating the mine-hunting sonar on ships, according to his Facebook page. He is stationed in Ingleside, Texas.

Earlier this afternoon, the GSP police and the Patriot Guard Riders traveled ahead of the family limousine and the hearse as the funeral procession left the airport grounds.

Standing near the runway fence near where GSP Drive becomes Johns Road before reaching South Carolina Highway 14, 10 to 15 men, women and children waited under umbrellas for the procession to pass.

Some waved American flags.

Several of the men held their ball caps or military covers over their chests as the hearse carrying Whitsitt passed by.

It was 1:30 p.m. when the procession, taken over by a Greer Police cruiser, pulled onto South Carolina Highway 14 and headed up the highway toward downtown Greer.

In a parking lot just up the road, a father held his young son and watched.

At the next intersection, someone in a van had pulled off the highway. The driver had draped a large American flag across one side.

Two women stood at the curb nearby, holding blankets wrapped around them to keep warm.

The flags at the Pelham-Batesville Fire Department were at half-staff.

In the city of Greer, the procession turned onto Poinsett Street as it made its way to Wood Mortuary.

As many as 200 or more men, women and children lined the street.

An older gentleman in an American Legion cover wiped a tear from his cheek as the hearse passed beneath a giant American flag flying in an archway created by two ladder trucks from the Greer and Pelham-Batesville fire departments.

“That young man is a hero,” ” the man said.

Preschoolers in the Child Development Program at First Baptist Greer stood on the front porch of the church with their teachers and waved tiny American flags.

“We didn’t know him, but we felt like we needed to come out here today and see him home,” said Betty Clark, 69. “I have two grandsons who are Marines, so to me, this young man was family.”

Funeral services are planned for Saturday at 11 a.m. at North Hills Community Church on Edwards Road in Taylors. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Whitsitt, a 2007 graduate of Greenville Tech Charter High, would have turned 22 in February.

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