Hundreds of mourners gathered in Kentucky yesterday for the funeral of a Hawai'i-based Marine killed in combat in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. Robert A. Lynch, 20, who joined the Marine Corps in May 2006, was killed July 24 in Diyala province.

Lt. Col. Steve Liszewski, commander of the 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, said Lynch was part of a convoy security team that was attacked.

Three Marines and a sailor were killed, and six other Marines were wounded, Liszewski said in a July 29 online post. The others killed were based outside Hawai'i, an official here said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with each of these families," Liszewski said, adding that in coming weeks, a memorial service will be held in Iraq.

In Kentucky, a wind snapped through a row of American flags held by mourners, relatives, colleagues and friends who came to pay final tributes to Lynch at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace," buglers played taps and fellow service members fired a 21-gun salute as mourners gathered in the heat.

Family members have said that Lynch, who was from Jefferson, Ky., was eager to join the military right out of high school. He had spent four years in the ROTC program.

Mike Smith, Lynch's pastor, said the young Marine knew he'd likely be going to Iraq when he joined the Corps, the Courier-Journal newspaper in Louisville reported.

But he "believed that the war in Iraq was a war that would ultimately provide freedom" for Iraqis, Smith said.

Lynch's brother, Michael, spoke at the funeral, saying he had doubts about his brother making it through Marine boot camp.

"But he proved me wrong," Michael Lynch said.

The motorcade from the service was approximately a mile long.

Police shut down the freeway as the motorcade made its way toward the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

A motorcycle group called the Patriot Guard Riders, made up of bikers and veterans, stood outside the church before the service.

Lynch was an engineer equipment mechanic assigned to 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force at Kane'ohe Bay, base officials said.

Approximately 1,000 Hawai'i Marines with the 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, an artillery unit, deployed to Iraq in March as provisional military police.

Lynch, who reported to Hawai'i in January, is the first Marine with the unit killed in action on the seven-month deployment.

The 1/12 Marines, who guard prisoners, escort convoys, man checkpoints and train Iraqi police, are spread over Iraq and are based at Al Qaim and Camp Fallujah in the west and operate as far east as Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

Another 1,000 Marines with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines at Kane'ohe Bay will be finishing up a tour in western Iraq in coming weeks and will be replaced by the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines. The unit returned to Hawai'i from a previous Iraq deployment in October.

Additionally, CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter squadrons from Kane'ohe Bay have had rotating Iraq duty.