Wood's mother, Jody Wood, also addressed the soldiers in Iraq, sending them her love and a "special hello" with a wish that they return home soon.

"For all who knew our son there, please know that we love you all," she said, adding the family was particularly touched by a memorial erected there on behalf of her son.

Wood was a particularly good boy, said his mother, and she struggled to recall even one time when her blond-haired child was even "a little naughty."

"He was just always so good. He really tried to do the right thing, even as a child," she said. "He was a hero to me before he left for Iraq, and now he is a hero to the rest of the world."

Julie Langreder remembered her brother's infectious laughter, love of movies and his patience with an "annoying little sister." He taught her "how to be proud to be an American," she said. Johnny Wood, a brother, said Ron was an inspiration and someone he "looked up to."

Cody Wood wrote and performed a song that he said expressed his feelings about his older brother. Among the words that lingered with the audience: "The thought never came to us that he would say goodbye — for days and days we tried to face reality — the other night, I felt him smiling down on me, my brother Ronnie, a guardian angel over us."

Fellow soldiers remembered Ron Wood with a fondness often reserved for best friends.

"Ron couldn't sit still. He had to keep moving, which was good," said Staff Sgt. Eric Irons of the Utah Army National Guard. "If he was sitting where I wanted to sit, all I had to do was wait a couple of minutes and he'd move. I am proud to call Ron my friend."

Just across the LaVerkin/Hurricane bridge over the Virgin River, and moments before the funeral procession arrived at the Hurricane Cemetery, dozens of local Boy Scouts stood at attention along U-9 and waved American flags.

"Thank you," Jody Wood said as she waved back to the Scouts along the road that leads to the cemetery, where her son would be buried near his grandparents.

Two National Guard helicopters flew in a missing-man formation over the Wood family as they said their good-byes.

As the service came to a close, the words of a song from the memorial became more clear: "There's a time for us to hold on, a time for us to let go — it was the time of our lives."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com