About 1,000 people packed into the Edmeston High School gymnasium Tuesday for the service honoring Army Cpl. Michael Mayne, a hometown soldier who had been assigned to Fort Wainwright. Another 500 people watched the ceremony on a big screen in the school auditorium.
The service focused on Mayne’s passion for life and his sense of humor. Mourners were encouraged to be happy about the life he led.
Mayne, 21, was killed by insurgents while on patrol Feb. 23 in Balad, near Baghdad. Killed with him were two other Fort Richardson soldiers, Cpl. Micheal Alleman, 31, of Logan, Utah, and Cpl. Zachary Nordemeyer, 21, of Indianapolis, as well as an interpreter.
Mayne’s body was escorted home Sunday by an honor guard from Fort Drum accompanied by New York state troopers and Otsego County deputies.
Hundreds of friends and admirers paid their respects to Mayne and his family at a service Monday at Burlington Flats Baptist Church, across the village green from where Mayne lived with his parents.
He enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school in Burlington Flats, an Otsego County hamlet 75 miles southeast of Syracuse.
Mayne was stationed with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainright before deploying to Iraq in August. He was due to return in May
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