SOLDIER GIVEN FOND FAREWELL

ALEXANDRIA BAY — Family and friends remember Pfc. Jack T. Sweet as the child catching tadpoles and leeches in the creek, eating glue or crayons in elementary school or defending a classmate from bullying.

They gathered to celebrate his life and mourn his death Saturday at Alexandria Bay United Methodist Church.

"You can't talk about Jack without smiling," family friend Patricia S. Wagoner said.

Pfc. Sweet and her daughter Gabrielle grew up together playing in a nearby creek. One time Mrs. Wagoner asked Pfc. Sweet what he had caught: "He held up a frog and said, 'Dinner!'"

The laughter from the congregation was mixed with tears. About 150 people attended the funeral, packing the sanctuary.

Pfc. Sweet was buried in Barnes Settlement Cemetery with military honors.

Pfc. Sweet, 19, of 46489 County Route 1, died Feb. 8 of injuries suffered in a roadside bombing near Jawwalah, Iraq.

He joined the Army in April and served with Fort Drum's 1st Brigade Combat Team's 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry. He was deployed in September.

During the service, a slide show of Pfc. Sweet scrolled through pictures of him as a baby, a child in a laundry basket or sticking out a blue tongue, a youth with ducks or fish he'd caught and a young man in uniform.

Maj. Gen. Michael L. Oates, commander of Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division, presented Pfc. Sweet's parents, Theresa Nester and Glenn O. Sweet, with posthumous awards of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Lt. Col. Michael D. Charles, the chief chaplain for the 10th Mountain Division, led the congregation in reading Psalm 23.

"We know from the teaching in the Scriptures that Jack is walking with God now," he said.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Helen M. Beck, said she was drawn to Matthew 5:9 in preparing for the service: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

The Rev. Ms. Beck said that when Pfc. Sweet died "he was on a peacekeeping mission," protecting innocent men, women and children. "Peace is not an absence of war but the presence of justice," she said.

To the family, she said, "I pray that all the words you have heard from your family and friends will serve to strengthen you."

Pfc. Sweet's stepbrother, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Hawley, said he was overwhelmed by the support of the community.

"As a fellow serviceman, I have never felt so much pride," he said.

"Jack is treasured as a grandson, a son, a friend, a brother, and most of all, as a hero," Mr. Hawley said.

Then he turned to the flag-draped coffin and said, "Thank you, Jack." According to a Navy tradition, he added, "I wish you fair winds and following seas."