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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 15, 2004

Schofield soldier killed in Iraq is laid to rest in Indiana

Associated Press

VALPARAISO, Ind. — A Hawai'i-based soldier who died on April 4 after an explosive hit his military vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk was buried Tuesday.

Susan Amos stands with her daughter Rebecca, right, at the funeral for her son, Army Pfc. John Amos II. "He would have loved all the attention," Susan Amos said.

Associated Press

More than 200 people filled a funeral home to pay their final respects to Army Pfc. John Amos II, 20, known as J.D.

Amos was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks. He had been in Iraq for two months, according to his mother, Susan Amos, of Valparaiso.

Amos joined the Army after graduating from Valparaiso High School in 2002.

Army officials posthumously awarded him with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

After a four-mile funeral procession through the city, six Army pallbearers wearing black berets slowly carried Amos' casket from a hearse to the grave. A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace."

Mourners surrounded the family at the cemetery, blocking a 25-mph wind, as an Army burial guard provided full military honors.

"He would have loved all the attention," his mother said after the service.

She had said military officials told her his left leg had to be amputated. Medics were unable to revive him when he went into cardiac arrest after he was put on an airplane for evacuation, she said.