On the day before Veterans Day, hundreds turn out to honor a Haskell soldier killed in Iraq.

COWETA -- As the country honored its veterans this weekend, mourners remembered a young Haskell soldier killed in Iraq as a patriot.

Army Pvt. Cody Montana Carver was buried Saturday at Vernon Cemetery after a funeral service with full military honors at the Coweta High School gym.

Hundreds came to pay their respects to the 19-year-old soldier and to support his grieving parents, Darrel and Pam Carver, and brothers Lee and Jake Carver, all of Haskell.

Scores of others, holding miniature American flags, lined Broadway as the funeral procession made its way through the center of town led by motorcycle riders from the Patriot Guard Riders and Rolling Thunder.

Carver volunteered for the Army in November 2006 in its toughest branch -- the infantry.

After completing basic training, Carver was a hometown recruiter for a short time before being sent to Iraq a little more than a month ago.

"This is a sampling of what a life can do in 19 short years," the Rev. Larry Brown said of the people Carver had touched. "Cody will never be forgotten."

Brown, who spent a lot of time with Carver at church camps over the years, said he had wanted to make a difference in the world since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Carver's father is a Vietnam veteran.

Carver

Carver served with the 1st and 15th Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Battalion Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Mechanized.

The military presented three awards to the family for Carver's actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom: the Bronze Star for meritorious service, a Purple Heart and a Good Conduct Medal.

Photographs at the service showed Carver before he was a soldier, as a smiling boy with friends and family in all stages of his life.

He grew up in Coweta, where he liked to race cars, ride motorcycles, skateboard and be with friends.

"Love lives on," Brown said. "As long as there is memory, they'll live on in the heart."

Carver had a diverse group of friends, which showed his capacity to see beyond the surface of people, and there was also much more to Carver than met the eye, Brown said.

Dyeing his hair blue on the eve of church camp became a yearly tradition. But as people got to know him, he went home having made friends with everyone.

"Thank God," Brown said. "Thank God we got to know him. He loved life and it was contagious to those around him."

Susan Hylton 581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com