Area residents, firefighters and Marines mourned a local hero and supported his family Monday in Altavista.
They came to the Altavista Combined School gymnasium and then to the Mount Hermon United Methodist Church Cemetery to honor Marine Staff Sgt. Greg Copes, who was killed Aug. 17 in Afghanistan.
The service in the gym, where about 20 arrangements of roses, carnations and other flowers were placed near the flag-draped casket, and at the cemetery, where those attending said the Lord’s Prayer and Marines fired a 21-gun salute, continued the community’s display of respect and love for Copes and his family.
On Friday, as his body was brought to Altavista, people stood along U.S. 29 and Main Street and waved American flags. On Monday, along Bedford Avenue and Route 43 to the grave site, more people stood in respect, many also with flags, as the lengthy funeral procession passed.
At the funeral, Copes’ sister-in-law, Elizabeth Copes, thanked the community and the Marines for the support, prayers and love. She said it had been “overwhelming.” She said Friday’s turnout as the body was brought to Altavista moved all of the family to tears.
About her brother-in-law, Copes said, “He was a Marine in every sense of the word. ... He always gave 100 percent to whatever he set his mind to. ... He did it because that was who he was.” She said it wasn’t for any honor or to be the hometown hero.
Copes said he also gave 100 percent for his family, which includes wife Tia and four young children. She said he always wanted to be buddies with his children, nieces and nephews.
A Marine who served with him for five years told the audience that Copes was always excited to show pictures of his children that his wife had sent through email.
He said the Marines will now take care of Copes’ wife and children.
Copes and his family lived in Jacksonville, N.C. He was in MarSOC, a special operations unit, and was with the 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. He had been in the Marines more than eight years.
Copes grew up in Lynch Station, graduated from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, went to Central Virginia Community College for two years and earned a business degree from Longwood University.
At Monday’s service, Chaplain Edward Gorman read two letters from Copes’ brothers and sisters. Both said the family would care for Copes’ wife and children.
“You were a wonderful father,” the letter from brothers William and Earl said. “We promise to look after your children, making sure they know you loved them.”
Sisters Elizabeth and Martha wrote that they were devastated by the loss, but grateful to have had him as a brother.
The service in the gym, which lasted about 35 minutes, included readings from the books of Job and John in the Bible. The one from John was about Jesus mourning for his friend Lazarus and bringing him back to life.
“Untie him and let him go,” Gorman said was the prayer for Copes, that God would welcome him home. Those words were similar to the ones Jesus used when he brought Lazarus back to life.
He said Copes had faith in God, his family, his country and the men and women he served with in the Marines.
“(It was) a faith in somebody other than himself,” Gorman said.
As the service closed, Marines, wearing dress uniforms and white gloves, removed the casket from the gym. The family followed.
The trip to the church cemetery was about three miles, but it took nearly an hour for the long, slow-moving funeral procession to get there. Besides passing people along the route, the procession went under the extended ladders of Altavista and Lynchburg fire trucks bearing American and Marine flags.
The graveside service included formal military honors, with the presentation of flags to the family by a Marine officer and the playing of taps.
Copes, who was 36, was killed when an Afghan police officer turned his rifle on his instructors. Copes had been involved in training Afghan officers.
Officials from Altavista, Hurt, Campbell County and Hargrave, and local members of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Boy Scouts, along with 5th District Rep. Robert Hurt, attended the funeral. Firefighters from Altavista, Lynchburg, Rustburg and other departments sat together as did many of the active military and veterans. Both of Copes’ brothers are firefighters.
Funds have been set up at Bank of the James and Wells Fargo, both in Altavista, to assist the immediate family.