From www.militarycity.com
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr.
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr., 19, of Forestport, N.Y.,; assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 17th Engineer Battalion, Fort Benning, Ga.; killed in action in Iraq.
A tabletop memorial in the hallway at Central Adirondack High School in Boonville, N.Y., honors Gregory Huxley Jr., killed by enemy fire April 6 in Iraq.
Among the mementos: A prom photo, Huxley’s graduation picture and duct tape.
“The students say Greg always said you could fix anything with duct tape,” said Principal Frederick Morgan. “He did not own a pair of shoes without some sort of duct tape on them,” said friend Erica Merlo, 17, Huxley’s prom date last year.
Huxley, 19, a native of nearby Forestport, N.Y., enlisted in the Army last summer. His last visit home was at Thanksgiving. By December, his unit was on its way to Kuwait.
Merlo said she’ll always picture Huxley strolling confidently into school, Yankees cap worn backwards, CD player blasting the heavy-metal bands Slipknot and Disturbed into headphones.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up, and it’s going to be a dream,” she said. “He was like a big brother to me.”
Huxley’s younger sister, Rebecca, is a junior at Central Adirondack. Another sister, Nicole, and a brother, Bernard, also graduated from the school.
Their grieving father, Gregory Huxley Sr., asked for continued support for the troops in Iraq. “Just because we lost (Gregory) doesn’t mean it’s over,” he told The Observer-Dispatch of Utica, N.Y.
Merlo got a letter from the soldier a few weeks ago. “He said he wanted to make us proud. We never got the chance to tell him that we already were — that just by joining the Army, he made us proud.”
— USA Today and The Associated Press
______________________
Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
April 18, 2003 Page: A1
FAMILY, HOMETOWN RECEIVE FORESTPORT SOLDIER KILLED IN ACTION
FALLEN SOLDIER IS HOME AS COMMUNITY MOURNS
By: Jennifer Jacobs Staff writer, The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There was a deep, reverent silence on the airplane when the pilot announced, just before landing in Syracuse Thursday, that there was special cargo on board.
The remains of Gregory Paul Huxley Jr., a 19-year-old Forestport resident who was killed in action in Baghdad April 6, arrived at Hancock International Airport on a US Airways commercial flight. Huxley died after the armored personnel carrier he was riding in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. A procession of three marked Syracuse police cars, five police motorcycles, and eight New York State Police cars led the vehicles carrying Huxley's loved ones onto the airport tarmac, where an honor guard lifted his flag-draped casket into a waiting hearse.
The plane's 3 p.m. arrival ended a long wait for the family, notified at 1:30 a.m. April 8 that Huxley had been fatally injured when his armored personnel carrier was hit by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Huxley was a private first class with the 3rd Infantry Division's 317th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Benning, Ga. He had finished basic training five months earlier. He left for the Persian Gulf Jan. 8.
While relatives, U.S. Army personnel and law enforcement officials encircled the portable conveyor belt attached to the cargo hold, passengers on the airplane remained seated, waiting for the soldier's casket to deplane first.
"I thought it was really neat they made such a big thing," said passenger Amber Stephens, a senior at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, who was flying home from a vacation to Florida. "The pilot said please be patient, allow this soldier to have a proper ceremony."
Huxley, a 2002 graduate of Adirondack High School, is survived by his parents, Mary and Gregory Huxley Sr.; a brother, Bernard; two sisters, Nicole and Rebecca; as well as grandparents, cousins and other relatives.
Lights flashing, the squad cars then escorted the relatives' cars down Interstate 81, onto the New York Thruway, and along the road home.
People in the towns of Forestport and Boonville, a community of about 5,100 in Oneida County, hoped to somehow lighten the family's grief by sharing the burden of the loss, town officials said.
At 4:45 p.m. Thursday, people lined Main Street and Schuyler Street along the route to the C.W. Trainor Funeral Home in Boonville to honor the passing casket procession.
Hundreds of yellow ribbons were tied to the trees. A local veterans group sold more than 400 ribbons for $3 each. The proceeds will be given to the Huxley family, said Mac Waterman of the Marine Corps League of Boonville.
A memorial service for Gregory Huxley will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Adirondack High School.
And people are expected to gather on Charles Street outside St. Joseph's Catholic Church before the 11 a.m. funeral Mass Wednesday.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday at the funeral home, 143 Schuyler St. A prayer service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
"Greg Huxley graduated with my grandson last year," said Boonville Mayor David Ernst. "We all have a personal connection with every kid in the area. We're small enough to know everyone."
It was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the United States began its pursuit of Osama bin Laden, that Huxley decided he wanted to be part of the hunt, his father said.
"Every male member of my family served in the military. Except for me," said the elder Huxley, who is legally blind. "Gregory wanted to do his part."
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr.
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr., 19, of Forestport, N.Y.,; assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 17th Engineer Battalion, Fort Benning, Ga.; killed in action in Iraq.
A tabletop memorial in the hallway at Central Adirondack High School in Boonville, N.Y., honors Gregory Huxley Jr., killed by enemy fire April 6 in Iraq.
Among the mementos: A prom photo, Huxley’s graduation picture and duct tape.
“The students say Greg always said you could fix anything with duct tape,” said Principal Frederick Morgan. “He did not own a pair of shoes without some sort of duct tape on them,” said friend Erica Merlo, 17, Huxley’s prom date last year.
Huxley, 19, a native of nearby Forestport, N.Y., enlisted in the Army last summer. His last visit home was at Thanksgiving. By December, his unit was on its way to Kuwait.
Merlo said she’ll always picture Huxley strolling confidently into school, Yankees cap worn backwards, CD player blasting the heavy-metal bands Slipknot and Disturbed into headphones.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up, and it’s going to be a dream,” she said. “He was like a big brother to me.”
Huxley’s younger sister, Rebecca, is a junior at Central Adirondack. Another sister, Nicole, and a brother, Bernard, also graduated from the school.
Their grieving father, Gregory Huxley Sr., asked for continued support for the troops in Iraq. “Just because we lost (Gregory) doesn’t mean it’s over,” he told The Observer-Dispatch of Utica, N.Y.
Merlo got a letter from the soldier a few weeks ago. “He said he wanted to make us proud. We never got the chance to tell him that we already were — that just by joining the Army, he made us proud.”
— USA Today and The Associated Press
______________________
Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
April 18, 2003 Page: A1
FAMILY, HOMETOWN RECEIVE FORESTPORT SOLDIER KILLED IN ACTION
FALLEN SOLDIER IS HOME AS COMMUNITY MOURNS
By: Jennifer Jacobs Staff writer, The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There was a deep, reverent silence on the airplane when the pilot announced, just before landing in Syracuse Thursday, that there was special cargo on board.
The remains of Gregory Paul Huxley Jr., a 19-year-old Forestport resident who was killed in action in Baghdad April 6, arrived at Hancock International Airport on a US Airways commercial flight. Huxley died after the armored personnel carrier he was riding in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. A procession of three marked Syracuse police cars, five police motorcycles, and eight New York State Police cars led the vehicles carrying Huxley's loved ones onto the airport tarmac, where an honor guard lifted his flag-draped casket into a waiting hearse.
The plane's 3 p.m. arrival ended a long wait for the family, notified at 1:30 a.m. April 8 that Huxley had been fatally injured when his armored personnel carrier was hit by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Huxley was a private first class with the 3rd Infantry Division's 317th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Benning, Ga. He had finished basic training five months earlier. He left for the Persian Gulf Jan. 8.
While relatives, U.S. Army personnel and law enforcement officials encircled the portable conveyor belt attached to the cargo hold, passengers on the airplane remained seated, waiting for the soldier's casket to deplane first.
"I thought it was really neat they made such a big thing," said passenger Amber Stephens, a senior at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, who was flying home from a vacation to Florida. "The pilot said please be patient, allow this soldier to have a proper ceremony."
Huxley, a 2002 graduate of Adirondack High School, is survived by his parents, Mary and Gregory Huxley Sr.; a brother, Bernard; two sisters, Nicole and Rebecca; as well as grandparents, cousins and other relatives.
Lights flashing, the squad cars then escorted the relatives' cars down Interstate 81, onto the New York Thruway, and along the road home.
People in the towns of Forestport and Boonville, a community of about 5,100 in Oneida County, hoped to somehow lighten the family's grief by sharing the burden of the loss, town officials said.
At 4:45 p.m. Thursday, people lined Main Street and Schuyler Street along the route to the C.W. Trainor Funeral Home in Boonville to honor the passing casket procession.
Hundreds of yellow ribbons were tied to the trees. A local veterans group sold more than 400 ribbons for $3 each. The proceeds will be given to the Huxley family, said Mac Waterman of the Marine Corps League of Boonville.
A memorial service for Gregory Huxley will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Adirondack High School.
And people are expected to gather on Charles Street outside St. Joseph's Catholic Church before the 11 a.m. funeral Mass Wednesday.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday at the funeral home, 143 Schuyler St. A prayer service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
"Greg Huxley graduated with my grandson last year," said Boonville Mayor David Ernst. "We all have a personal connection with every kid in the area. We're small enough to know everyone."
It was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the United States began its pursuit of Osama bin Laden, that Huxley decided he wanted to be part of the hunt, his father said.
"Every male member of my family served in the military. Except for me," said the elder Huxley, who is legally blind. "Gregory wanted to do his part."
From www.militarycity.com
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr.
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr., 19, of Forestport, N.Y.,; assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 17th Engineer Battalion, Fort Benning, Ga.; killed in action in Iraq.
A tabletop memorial in the hallway at Central Adirondack High School in Boonville, N.Y., honors Gregory Huxley Jr., killed by enemy fire April 6 in Iraq.
Among the mementos: A prom photo, Huxley’s graduation picture and duct tape.
“The students say Greg always said you could fix anything with duct tape,” said Principal Frederick Morgan. “He did not own a pair of shoes without some sort of duct tape on them,” said friend Erica Merlo, 17, Huxley’s prom date last year.
Huxley, 19, a native of nearby Forestport, N.Y., enlisted in the Army last summer. His last visit home was at Thanksgiving. By December, his unit was on its way to Kuwait.
Merlo said she’ll always picture Huxley strolling confidently into school, Yankees cap worn backwards, CD player blasting the heavy-metal bands Slipknot and Disturbed into headphones.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up, and it’s going to be a dream,” she said. “He was like a big brother to me.”
Huxley’s younger sister, Rebecca, is a junior at Central Adirondack. Another sister, Nicole, and a brother, Bernard, also graduated from the school.
Their grieving father, Gregory Huxley Sr., asked for continued support for the troops in Iraq. “Just because we lost (Gregory) doesn’t mean it’s over,” he told The Observer-Dispatch of Utica, N.Y.
Merlo got a letter from the soldier a few weeks ago. “He said he wanted to make us proud. We never got the chance to tell him that we already were — that just by joining the Army, he made us proud.”
— USA Today and The Associated Press
______________________
Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
April 18, 2003 Page: A1
FAMILY, HOMETOWN RECEIVE FORESTPORT SOLDIER KILLED IN ACTION
FALLEN SOLDIER IS HOME AS COMMUNITY MOURNS
By: Jennifer Jacobs Staff writer, The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There was a deep, reverent silence on the airplane when the pilot announced, just before landing in Syracuse Thursday, that there was special cargo on board.
The remains of Gregory Paul Huxley Jr., a 19-year-old Forestport resident who was killed in action in Baghdad April 6, arrived at Hancock International Airport on a US Airways commercial flight. Huxley died after the armored personnel carrier he was riding in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. A procession of three marked Syracuse police cars, five police motorcycles, and eight New York State Police cars led the vehicles carrying Huxley's loved ones onto the airport tarmac, where an honor guard lifted his flag-draped casket into a waiting hearse.
The plane's 3 p.m. arrival ended a long wait for the family, notified at 1:30 a.m. April 8 that Huxley had been fatally injured when his armored personnel carrier was hit by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Huxley was a private first class with the 3rd Infantry Division's 317th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Benning, Ga. He had finished basic training five months earlier. He left for the Persian Gulf Jan. 8.
While relatives, U.S. Army personnel and law enforcement officials encircled the portable conveyor belt attached to the cargo hold, passengers on the airplane remained seated, waiting for the soldier's casket to deplane first.
"I thought it was really neat they made such a big thing," said passenger Amber Stephens, a senior at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, who was flying home from a vacation to Florida. "The pilot said please be patient, allow this soldier to have a proper ceremony."
Huxley, a 2002 graduate of Adirondack High School, is survived by his parents, Mary and Gregory Huxley Sr.; a brother, Bernard; two sisters, Nicole and Rebecca; as well as grandparents, cousins and other relatives.
Lights flashing, the squad cars then escorted the relatives' cars down Interstate 81, onto the New York Thruway, and along the road home.
People in the towns of Forestport and Boonville, a community of about 5,100 in Oneida County, hoped to somehow lighten the family's grief by sharing the burden of the loss, town officials said.
At 4:45 p.m. Thursday, people lined Main Street and Schuyler Street along the route to the C.W. Trainor Funeral Home in Boonville to honor the passing casket procession.
Hundreds of yellow ribbons were tied to the trees. A local veterans group sold more than 400 ribbons for $3 each. The proceeds will be given to the Huxley family, said Mac Waterman of the Marine Corps League of Boonville.
A memorial service for Gregory Huxley will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Adirondack High School.
And people are expected to gather on Charles Street outside St. Joseph's Catholic Church before the 11 a.m. funeral Mass Wednesday.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday at the funeral home, 143 Schuyler St. A prayer service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
"Greg Huxley graduated with my grandson last year," said Boonville Mayor David Ernst. "We all have a personal connection with every kid in the area. We're small enough to know everyone."
It was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the United States began its pursuit of Osama bin Laden, that Huxley decided he wanted to be part of the hunt, his father said.
"Every male member of my family served in the military. Except for me," said the elder Huxley, who is legally blind. "Gregory wanted to do his part."
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr.
Army Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr., 19, of Forestport, N.Y.,; assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 17th Engineer Battalion, Fort Benning, Ga.; killed in action in Iraq.
A tabletop memorial in the hallway at Central Adirondack High School in Boonville, N.Y., honors Gregory Huxley Jr., killed by enemy fire April 6 in Iraq.
Among the mementos: A prom photo, Huxley’s graduation picture and duct tape.
“The students say Greg always said you could fix anything with duct tape,” said Principal Frederick Morgan. “He did not own a pair of shoes without some sort of duct tape on them,” said friend Erica Merlo, 17, Huxley’s prom date last year.
Huxley, 19, a native of nearby Forestport, N.Y., enlisted in the Army last summer. His last visit home was at Thanksgiving. By December, his unit was on its way to Kuwait.
Merlo said she’ll always picture Huxley strolling confidently into school, Yankees cap worn backwards, CD player blasting the heavy-metal bands Slipknot and Disturbed into headphones.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up, and it’s going to be a dream,” she said. “He was like a big brother to me.”
Huxley’s younger sister, Rebecca, is a junior at Central Adirondack. Another sister, Nicole, and a brother, Bernard, also graduated from the school.
Their grieving father, Gregory Huxley Sr., asked for continued support for the troops in Iraq. “Just because we lost (Gregory) doesn’t mean it’s over,” he told The Observer-Dispatch of Utica, N.Y.
Merlo got a letter from the soldier a few weeks ago. “He said he wanted to make us proud. We never got the chance to tell him that we already were — that just by joining the Army, he made us proud.”
— USA Today and The Associated Press
______________________
Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
April 18, 2003 Page: A1
FAMILY, HOMETOWN RECEIVE FORESTPORT SOLDIER KILLED IN ACTION
FALLEN SOLDIER IS HOME AS COMMUNITY MOURNS
By: Jennifer Jacobs Staff writer, The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There was a deep, reverent silence on the airplane when the pilot announced, just before landing in Syracuse Thursday, that there was special cargo on board.
The remains of Gregory Paul Huxley Jr., a 19-year-old Forestport resident who was killed in action in Baghdad April 6, arrived at Hancock International Airport on a US Airways commercial flight. Huxley died after the armored personnel carrier he was riding in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. A procession of three marked Syracuse police cars, five police motorcycles, and eight New York State Police cars led the vehicles carrying Huxley's loved ones onto the airport tarmac, where an honor guard lifted his flag-draped casket into a waiting hearse.
The plane's 3 p.m. arrival ended a long wait for the family, notified at 1:30 a.m. April 8 that Huxley had been fatally injured when his armored personnel carrier was hit by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Huxley was a private first class with the 3rd Infantry Division's 317th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Benning, Ga. He had finished basic training five months earlier. He left for the Persian Gulf Jan. 8.
While relatives, U.S. Army personnel and law enforcement officials encircled the portable conveyor belt attached to the cargo hold, passengers on the airplane remained seated, waiting for the soldier's casket to deplane first.
"I thought it was really neat they made such a big thing," said passenger Amber Stephens, a senior at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, who was flying home from a vacation to Florida. "The pilot said please be patient, allow this soldier to have a proper ceremony."
Huxley, a 2002 graduate of Adirondack High School, is survived by his parents, Mary and Gregory Huxley Sr.; a brother, Bernard; two sisters, Nicole and Rebecca; as well as grandparents, cousins and other relatives.
Lights flashing, the squad cars then escorted the relatives' cars down Interstate 81, onto the New York Thruway, and along the road home.
People in the towns of Forestport and Boonville, a community of about 5,100 in Oneida County, hoped to somehow lighten the family's grief by sharing the burden of the loss, town officials said.
At 4:45 p.m. Thursday, people lined Main Street and Schuyler Street along the route to the C.W. Trainor Funeral Home in Boonville to honor the passing casket procession.
Hundreds of yellow ribbons were tied to the trees. A local veterans group sold more than 400 ribbons for $3 each. The proceeds will be given to the Huxley family, said Mac Waterman of the Marine Corps League of Boonville.
A memorial service for Gregory Huxley will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Adirondack High School.
And people are expected to gather on Charles Street outside St. Joseph's Catholic Church before the 11 a.m. funeral Mass Wednesday.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday at the funeral home, 143 Schuyler St. A prayer service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
"Greg Huxley graduated with my grandson last year," said Boonville Mayor David Ernst. "We all have a personal connection with every kid in the area. We're small enough to know everyone."
It was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the United States began its pursuit of Osama bin Laden, that Huxley decided he wanted to be part of the hunt, his father said.
"Every male member of my family served in the military. Except for me," said the elder Huxley, who is legally blind. "Gregory wanted to do his part."
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