Winder buried at Arlington

ARLINGTON, Va. — Family and friends of former Blanding resident Nathan L. Winder gathered at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday as the solider was buried in a formal military ceremony.

A rifle volley sounded as a bugle played Taps in the background on a bright and hot day in Virginia. Large bouquets of red, white and blue flowers stood behind the grave site as soldiers folded the flag that draped Winder's coffin with precision only the military can provide.

Winder's grandfather Cleal Bradford said Winder's parents, Tom and Terri Winder, also of Blanding, were there, as well as 14 of Winder's siblings, his wife, Mechelle, his 11-year old son, Logan, and other friends and family members.

Bradford said Winder had requested to be buried at Arlington should anything happen to him.

The family gathered in a private room in a building at the cemetery, where Winder's family received his Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals before a procession of cars made its way to the grave site. Soldiers saluted as the coffin was carried to the grave, and a group of veterans stood nearby and also saluted.

As of Thursday, 402 service members have been buried at Arlington from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the cemetery's media office.

Winder, 32, was working with a U.S. Special Forces Quick Reaction Force when he was killed by small-arms fire in Iraq on June 26.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, at least 43 members of the military and others with Utah ties have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Winder, adopted when he was 2 years old from Seoul, South Korea, was the third member of his family to serve in Iraq, Boyle said. Two of Winder's brothers also served. He was one of eight children his parents adopted in addition to their 10 biological children.

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