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Photo by Sam Yu
Hundreds turned out for the funeral service for Lance Cpl. Jordan Chrobot at the Lynfield Event Complex Sunday afternoon. Following the casket out of the funeral with a U.S. Marine officer are Kandy Poole Johns, left, Chrobot’s mother, and his wife Amber Chrobot. |
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Lance Cpl. Jordan Chrobot touched countless lives as a student in Frederick , a Marine in North Carolina and a warrior in Iraq and Afghanistan. The impact he left wherever he went was clear Sunday afternoon, as easily 1,000 people showed up to say goodbye at his funeral, complete with tearful eulogies from friends and a three-volley salute. Attendees wore Marine dress uniforms and Civil War uniforms — Chrobot performed with a Civil War re-enactment company — and license plates outside ranged from Florida to Texas to South Dakota. Family, friends, Marines and others filed into the Frederick Christian Fellowship Church at the Lynfield Event Complex to remember Chrobot, 24, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan. They were treated to two photo slide shows of Chrobot, one featuring his childhood pictures and the second filled with photos of him and his wife, Amber Chrobot. Several high school friends talked about Chrobot being a fun-loving partner-in-crime, setting up paintball courses, shooting pool and drinking too much coffee. Justin Coffey, Chrobot's friend from New Life Christian School, told the crowd about the last time he saw Chrobot before he deployed to Afghanistan. They went to play pool with a group of friends, and at the end of the night "he opened his trunk and pulled out his helmet and just said 'look at my helmet.' He was just so proud to be a Marine," Coffey said, looking down at the coffin covered with an American flag and Chrobot's white Marine cap. A neighbor from Camp LeJeune, N.C., where Chrobot was stationed, told the crowd how Chrobot helped his wife even before the two Marines had met in person. When Chrobot came back from Iraq and his neighbor was still serving in Afghanistan, Chrobot helped with housework and anything else he could do for his neighbors. About 80 members of the Patriot Guard Riders showed up outside the funeral, waving American flags and saluting Chrobot's casket when it was loaded into the hearse. But the respect for the fallen Marine didn't stop there. As cars rolled down Hansonville Road, several groups of people stopped to watch and salute, some waving flags as well. At the Resthaven Memorial Gardens, Marines surrounded the grave site, firing a three-volley salute and then playing taps on the bugle and Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.
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