{"id":67370,"date":"2021-09-08T22:49:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T22:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/08\/grief-comes-home-to-us-towns-week-after-afghanistan-war-ends\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:28:39","slug":"grief-comes-home-to-us-towns-week-after-afghanistan-war-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2021\/09\/08\/grief-comes-home-to-us-towns-week-after-afghanistan-war-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Grief comes home to US towns week after Afghanistan war ends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BERLIN HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) \u2014 Waiting for the hearse carrying one of the 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing<\/a> in Afghanistan two weeks ago, Faye Hillis thought about all the military veterans she had mourned at her hometown\u2019s lone funeral home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her father who came home from World War II. Her cousin who died in Vietnam. Too many friends and neighbors to count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m having all these flashbacks,\u201d she said Wednesday as school children, families and veterans lined the village\u2019s two main streets to honor Navy Corpsman Maxton Soviak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the war in Afghanistan is over, its harsh reality is still coming home as Americans now are beginning to honor and bury the last casualties<\/a> to come back from a 20-year war that claimed more than 2,400 American lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flags of all sizes and homemade signs saying \u201cthank you for your service\u201d decorated the procession route through northern Ohio where Soviak, 22, grew up before joining the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michelle Rimmele, Michelle Auck, Josh Rimmele, and Hunter Rimmele, hold American flags in anticipation of the procession forNavy Hospital Corpsman Maxton \u201cMax\u201d Soviak, on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021 in Berlin Heights, Ohio. Soviak was one of 13 U.S. troops killed in a horrific suicide bombing at Afghanistan\u2019s Kabul airport on Aug. 26. (Stephen Zenner \/The Blade via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In suburban St Louis, thousands lined Interstate 70 to pay respects Wednesday to Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20, whose body was escorted from the airport to a funeral home in St. Charles, Missouri. Many people brought American flags, and massive flags flew from the aerial ladders of fire trucks. The procession, which included about 1,000 motorcyclists from the Patriot Guard, was so long the Missouri State Highway Patrol closed the interstate to westbound traffic over the 8 1\/2-mile route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those paying his respects was 60-year-old Luther Loughridge, a retired lieutenant with the U.S. Coast Guard, who stood in uniform at salute for more than 20 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the last of the Afghanistan war, and he\u2019s the last victim,\u201d Loughridge said. \u201cHe gave his entire life and as a veteran, we respond to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t