Soldier killed in Iraq buried in Hudsonville

HUDSONVILLE -- When one of his Army buddies was planning to be married, Rick Herrema saw a challenge in getting the groom and dozens of friends from their base at Fort Bragg, N.C., to the wedding in Tampa, Fla.   He paid $1,200 for a used school bus, fixed the engine, carpeted the interior, painted the outside black with orange flames and drove them there.  That was typical of Sgt. Richard Herrema, recalled Andy Bardeen, the groom and fellow soldier.  "Literally, one time Rick gave me the shirt off his back," he said.

Herrema, 27, of Hudsonville, was buried Friday, 10 days after he was killed by small arms fire in Baghdad, one of more than 2,415 American soldiers -- including 82 from Michigan -- to die in Iraq since the war began.

"We cannot describe our grief," his parents, Richard and Mary Herrema said in a written statement, "but Rick would want everyone to know he died doing what he loved, fighting for his brothers and for this country ... . There is some solace Rick did not die alone or in vain, as he was surrounded by extraordinary men."

Friends and family members recalled him as a man of humor, generosity, integrity and humility.

He was a loyal NASCAR fan and the kind of brother who, while picking up a younger sister at school, waited until she reached for the door handle, hit the gas, surged ahead a few feet, stopped, then repeated the prank several more times.   He was "a big brother who would bug you, but always had your back," his younger sister, Kate, said through tears, standing with his other sister, Janie.

Longtime friend Ryan Roede called him a "a rock that I could lean on through thick and thin" and "the most humble man I ever met in my life."   Army buddy Jason Marker described him in a word: "Passion. What I'm talking about is the passion he felt for all of us. Every thought and every prayer was for us."

Herrema, a 1997 Unity Christian High School graduate, enlisted seven years ago but only had been in Iraq three weeks when he was fatally shot.   As an Army Special Forces team leader, he was well aware of the danger. Knowing he might die, Herrema chose a biblical passage from Romans to be read at his funeral: "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"I think we all recognize we lost a fine young man in the sands of Iraq," the Rev. Stephen Steenstra said, "one of many who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms." Honored by a 21-gun salute and a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace," Herrema was buried in a hilltop cemetery not far from the farm where he grew up. The notes of Taps echoed across the fields.