Utah soldier 'honored his country'

HOWELL, Box Elder County — Along a road highlighted by American flags and yellow ribbons, Sgt. Rocky Dennis Payne was carried home Friday to rest beneath the fields where he played as a child.

The wind was sharp, the sky heavy with clouds. A flag hung at half-staff whipped to attention as Payne's four older brothers placed his flag-draped casket before his parents.

Dennis and Marie Payne were solemn, silently wiping tears as they were presented medals their youngest boy had earned in death. Payne was killed March 16 while escorting a mail convoy in Baghdad, Iraq. The parents also received a flag that was folded around three cartridges reserved from an earlier military gun salute.

Then it was time for goodbyes.

For a moment, Dennis Payne was choked with painful emotion, gripping his son Rory as he wiped tears from beneath his glasses. He placed a white flower on his son's casket, paused, then turned to hug his wife.

"I miss him terribly, but I'm at peace with it," Payne said. "He was doing what he wanted to do and he honored his country."

That was the message of the day.

While Rocky Payne's body was left broken and battered after a roadside bomb exploded near Baghdad, his family felt his spirit was whole.

Their 26-year-old soldier died a hero, his dad said. He served his country and the people of Iraq, offering his life as an ultimate sacrifice for family and freedom.

It was a message echoed in a statement by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, read at funeral services in the Garland LDS Tabernacle, where Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was in attendance.

"I think he was willing to give his life if necessary; that's the kind of boy he was" said Dennis Payne. "He always helped the ones being picked on. Being a tall boy and strong because he was raised on a farm, he would go to their defense."

Standing over 6 feet, Rocky Payne was the tallest of his father's sons. He was known as a prankster, always ready with a new joke and quick smile.

Payne was also good with his hands. At age 16, he brought home a rusty truck from a neighbor's yard. It hadn't worked in years, but within two days, it was running again.

"He loved mechanical things," his father said. "He loved to tinker. He would take bicycles or wagons or what-not that his older brothers had worn out, fix them up like new and use them again."

As a soldier, Payne was a gunner with the 497th Transportation Company based out of Ft. Lewis, Wash. It was his second tour in Iraq. His first tour was with the Marines.