500 bid soldier Gourley farewell

MIDVALE — At least 500 people, including Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., attended a memorial service here Friday for Staff Sgt. Gregson Glenn Gourley, a husband and father of four children, who last week became the 15th Utah serviceman to die in Iraq.

Gourley, 38, and three other soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division were killed last week when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee while on combat patrol near Hawijah, Iraq.

The Midvale native was working at his "dream job" when he died.

"Greg felt he was involved in something bigger than the war on terror," said Gourley's brother Eric, also a decorated soldier.

Eric Gourley said his brother served as an example of service and sacrifice for Iraqis. His brother became an Eagle Scout at age 14 and even then had a chest full of ribbons.

Greg Gourley graduated from Hillcrest High School only after dropping out for a time and returning for a diploma. A struggling but young Gourley picked pineapples in Hawaii through a program with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began to turn his life around, according to his brother.

He served an LDS mission in Pennsylvania before earning two associate degrees from Salt Lake Community College. He joined the Utah Army National Guard and eventually achieved his goal of becoming an infantryman in the Army.

Gourley's family now lives in Kentucky, where he was stationed at the time of his death.

Quoting the poem "Soldier," author unknown, Eric Gourley said of his brother, "I was that which others did not want to be. . . . I was proud of what I was, a soldier."

Huntsman said Gourley's passing took a little piece of his heart and that he too was grieving the loss. The governor also called Gourley a symbol of service to family, religion and country.

"These are symbols of a life well lived," Huntsman told the audience.

Family friend Hugh Gregson, for whom Gourley was named, called Gourley one of the finest men to walk the earth and a "true patriot."

Gregson said he spoke to Gourley just before he was shipped off to Iraq for the second time. Gourley told Gregson, "If I don't come back, know how much I love my wife and children, know how much I love my mom and dad."