The many sides of Army 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom were presented for him when he could no longer do so himself. The man who was a scholar, athlete, father, joker — and, lastly, faithful fellow soldier — was celebrated more so than mourned at his funeral yesterday.

More than 400 people attended services for the 'Aiea man, who was killed July 13 in Afghanistan along with eight other soldiers in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years.

Brostrom's American flag-draped casket was flanked by large bouquets of flowers at Holy Family Parish next to the airport, and a large framed photo of the smiling soldier draped with lei was placed in front of it.

Brostrom's father, David, a retired Army colonel; his mother, Mary Jo; his brother, Blake; and his young son's mom, Lindsey Spargur, greeted a seemingly unending line of well-wishers for more than an hour before the Mass.

Blake Brostrom, a cadet in the University of Hawai'i ROTC program like his brother before him, told those assembled, "Jon wouldn't want us to sit here and mourn."

Rather, the 24-year-old would want those assembled to rejoice in his life, Blake Brostrom said.

"He made a decision, and his decision was to defend and support his buddies who were about to be overrun," he said. "For that, I stand proud of him."

Brostrom was buried at Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe. His mother held a tri-folded American flag, David Brostrom, in Army uniform, held his wife's hand, and both took in long halting breaths as they contemplated the silver-colored casket in front of them.

Brostrom posthumously was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

The remote outpost Brostrom was at in Wanat, Afghanistan, was occupied by about 45 U.S. soldiers and 25 Afghan troops. The base, which had been manned only days before with just Humvees and concertina wire providing a perimeter, was attacked by about 200 Taliban fighters with a withering fury of rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.

Brostrom and the other soldiers who were killed were with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) out of Vicenza, Italy. Three Kane'ohe Bay Marines who were training Afghan army soldiers also were in the firefight. One was slightly injured.

The firefight has come to symbolize the call by U.S. military officials for more troops in Afghanistan, where attacks on coalition forces are on the rise.

TOO YOUNG TO REALIZE

Brostrom's son, Jase, who just turned 6, yesterday waved a small American flag and sat on his grandfather's lap at the church service.

Spargur, who lives with Jase in Utah, said after the services that Brostrom's death isn't really comprehensible for their son.

When Brostrom came home during leave in May, he was able to spend time with the boy, and a photo shows a smiling Jase glued in a bear hug to his dad's legs at the Hale Koa Hotel pool.

"I still don't think that he understands that he won't see him," Spargur said. "We've talked to him about the Stairway to Heaven (trail) that's out in Kane'ohe, so he thinks, 'OK, well, I'll just climb the Stairway to Heaven to see my Dad.' "

Brostrom was born in Germany, and the family moved to Hawai'i in 1999. He graduated from Damien Memorial High School in 2002 and received a four-year UH ROTC scholarship.

Capt. Vic Underwood, who recruited Brostrom into the UH program, said the Army seeks people who can be scholars, leaders and athletes, and that "Jon hit all three of those out of the ballpark."

Brostrom had graduated from Airborne school, air assault school and a Navy dive class, and had earned a Ranger tab. He reported to Vicenza, Italy, on June 26, 2007, and deployed to Afghanistan shortly afterward.

FOND MEMORIES

1st Lt. Brandon Kennedy remembered "Jon Boy" Brostrom from time spent at Fort Benning, Ga., and the deployment to Afghanistan, where they eventually went to different companies.

The day before Brostrom left for Wanat, Kennedy caught up with him at nearby Camp Blessing. There, the one-upmanship began.

"No matter what I did, he'd always climbed a higher mountain, carried a heavier ruck," Kennedy said jokingly.

Their last hours together were spent in the weight room, and that's how Kennedy said he'll remember the accomplished leader — always striving to make himself better.

Another friend, 1st Lt. Carter Johnston, remembered Brostrom's humor, including the "caveman grunt laugh" he liked to deploy. They even talked about how Brostrom wanted to be eulogized should he die in the line of duty.

"(He said) I want you to be drinking a beer while you are talking to everyone," Johnston said.

Brostrom is the 240th service member with Hawai'i ties to die in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait since 2003.

Deaths in Afghanistan have begun to outpace those in Iraq, and two Hawai'i Marines who were in the same area as Brostrom between July 2007 and April 2008 said there were several hundred engagements with enemy forces in that time.

'A FALLEN COMRADE'

Marine 1st Lt. Mike Krause and Maj. Bart Battista both knew Brostrom, and attended his funeral.

"Once a week, all the lieutenants at Camp Blessing would get together outside our little hooch where we lived, and we'd drink Afghan chai and smoke a cigar and complain about all the superior officers," Krause said with a laugh.

Remote combat outpost Bella, accessible only by helicopter, was being moved closer to Camp Blessing at Wanat when the Wanat observation post was hit in the complex attack by 200 Taliban.

The cross-border location with Pakistan near the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province has been a perpetual hotspot since U.S. forces moved in there in recent years.

Survivors of the July 13 battle told Stars and Stripes so many rounds were fired that American weapons started to seize up, and so many rocket-propelled grenades came in that U.S. troops wondered how the enemy could have so many.

Apache helicopters and A-10 and F-15 aircraft eventually came to the rescue.

Krause said Brostrom, who was at the end of his deployment, was going to spend a month or so in Hawai'i, and the two had planned to hang out. That should have been in a week or two.

"He's a fallen comrade. A brother in arms," Krause said. "We had respect for him, and he was our friend."