The 21-year-old had asked his brother to look after their parents and not to forget him if he died.

BLACKWELL -- Marine Cpl. Jeremy David Allbaugh was eulogized Friday as a remarkable man whose life touched many others.

Those words and many more came from Army 2nd Lt. Jason Allbaugh, who shared reflections on his younger brother's life with hundreds of mourners.

That life was cut short on July 5 when the Humvee the 21-year-old Marine was riding in struck a roadside bomb in Iraq's western Anbar province.

Allbaugh had been a Marine for three years, and had been in Iraq since mid-April.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Jason Allbaugh told family and friends at the First Christian Church of his brother's lifelong desire to be in the military, and read for them a Marine poem that fit Jeremy's dedication.

"He wasn't only my brother, he was my best friend," Jason said as he stood near his brother's flag-draped casket, adorned on top with a white Western hat.

His voice cracking with emotion at times, Allbaugh told mourners of the fun he and his brother had growing up, their pranks and their rivalry.

"He lived his life the way he wanted," Allbaugh said of his brother.

"A little brother is supposed to look up to a big brother, but now I look

Allbaugh talked about one of the last conversations he had with his Marine brother.

Jeremy told his brother that if anything should happen to him, "I want you to do two things:

"Take care of mom and dad.

"And remember me."

"How could I not remember you?" Jason Allbaugh said he told his brother.

Jason asked the same of mourners -- that they remember his brother, remember why he died, that he had paid the ultimate price for their freedoms.

"Rest easy and sleep well, little brother," Allbaugh said as he looked down at the casket.

The Rev. Jeff Koch, who officiated at the service, said the slain Marine "exhibited what it takes to make this country great."

Koch reminded family and friends that freedom is not free, and that "the cost can be high."

The minister said Jeremy Allbaugh talked to his mother a few days before his death and assured her that the country's mission in Iraq is an important one, and that the Iraqi people appreciate the job American troops are doing.

"Jeremy and others like him are examples to us all of the loyalty, the duty, respect, honor, integrity and personal courage . . . the stuff of heroes.

"Heroes. Those who live for more than themselves, those who'll sacrifice their lives," Koch said.

The family was presented with Allbaugh's Purple Heart medal during the service.

He already had been awarded the National Defense Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.

As the white hearse carrying his casket slowly made the 1-mile drive to the Blackwell Cemetery, residents stood alongside Main Street and waved American flags.

At the cemetery, friends and family stood in reverent silence as two Marines solemnly folded the flag from his coffin and presented it to his parents.

Allbaugh received a full military funeral, including a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps by a Marine bugler. A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace."

Allbaugh grew up in Harrah and was a 2004 graduate of high school there, joining the Marines while still a senior.

He spent much of his time visiting with grandparents in Blackwell. He was buried among Allbaugh family members.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by his parents, Jon and Jenifer Allbaugh of Whitehouse, Texas; another brother, Bryan Allbaugh of Crowley, Texas; a sister, Alicia Allbaugh of Whitehouse, Texas; and his grandparents, Peggy Allbaugh of Wichita, Kan., and John and Dorothy Payne of Tulsa.

He was the nephew of Joe Allbaugh, who managed the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush and was Bush's first director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Manny Gamallo 581-8386
manny.gamallo@tulsaworld.com