Sonya Williams, widow of Sgt. Williams, holds their 11-month-old daughter Amaya.
Posted on 04/17/2007 7:42:17 AM PDT by SmithL
A silver hearse carried the body of Army Staff Sgt. Jesse Williams back home Monday during a remarkable motorcade from San Francisco to Santa Rosa where hundreds of mourners paid silent tribute along the 70-mile route. Police and sheriff's officers from virtually every agency in Marin and Sonoma counties lined the motorcade and firefighters saluted from their flag-draped ladder trucks at almost every overpass as the procession wound its way from San Francisco Airport, along the Great Highway, over the Golden Gate Bridge and along Highway 101 to Santa Rosa.
Citizens waved American flags and stood in groups, paying their respects to Williams, 25, who was killed by a sniper in Iraq on April 8.
It was the largest tribute to a fallen soldier from Northern California since more than 1,000 Ukiah residents waited until 2 a.m. last June to honor Army Sgt. Jason Buzzard, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
"It's overwhelming," said William's stepmother, Sandra Handley, who wept as an Army honor guard carried his flag-draped coffin from the hearse into Daniels Chapel of the Roses in Santa Rosa. "Our young people who are serving in our armed forces deserve our respect and love because they pay the ultimate price for our country, as Jesse did."
Sonya Williams, widow of Sgt. Williams, holds their 11-month-old daughter Amaya.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
A military color guard escorts Williams' coffin off the hearse in Santa Rosa
The motorcade escorted by police and sheriff's officers passes over the Golden Gate Bridge
SALUTE!
This one is for all you California-bashers out there. We got our problem areas, like everyone does, but we’re not all fruits and nuts.
Prayers for Army Staff Sgt. Jesse Williams & his family. ~Pandora~
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Circa 1944
Maybe my move was rash.
Na! But it is wonderful to see that there is more coming out of San Francisco than liberal bias.
Sometimes our citizens do make us proud. God bless this man and his family.
hundreds? there should have been thousands from that heavily populated area. I was heartened to hear that an even larger group showed up in Ukiah for a fallen soldier. i am from Mendocino county and i know most people up there are mushy-headed but there are a few right-thinking folks there.
May he rest in peace.
Agree. We only hear from the loud mouths. Never those who really have something to say. Santa Rosa did a beautiful tribute to one of their own. God be with his widow and young daughter. So very heartbreaking. We lived in California twice. Loved it and still do. Just became too busy and crowded for us but...California will ALWAYS have a special place in our hearts. Both our children were born in Sacramento. My brother lives in Southern Cal as do his married children. Friends in San Diego, Chico, etc. It’s like the old saying: “Guns don’t kill people...people kill people.” Well, states aren’t responsible for what their people do. Not EVERY PERSON in a state thinks like the whackos. Glad you are proud of your state. You should be. I am proud to be a New Jersey Shore native. People make fun of it too but...that’s becuase theya re ignorant of what is REAL there and what is politics. Thank you for your post. Took me back over the GG bridge with many fond memories shared with my family when they would come visit us. Prayers for the fallen hero and his family.
Thank you, my past fellow Bay Area Californians. Thank you!
There is hope yet for this country when a funeral motorcade
for a soldier can roll 70 miles through the San Francisco Bay area and people turn out all along the way to salute him....
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