Hundreds of people lined a mile-long stretch of U.S. 64 Saturday waving flags and holding signs of support for the family of Sgt. Jason Michael Swindle, who died in Afghanistan last week.
The traffic tied up the highway in both directions as residents from across the state and motorcyclists fromas far as Kansas and Tennessee flocked to this small central Arkansas town.
Many were there to attend Swindle’s funeral service and burial.
Swindle, 24, died Sept. 20 in Panjwa’l, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked hisvehicle with rocket-propelled grenades. Early reports stating he died from small-arms fire were corrected by the Pentagon last week.
Swindle joined the active-duty Army shortly after graduating from Cabot High School. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division of Fort Stewart, Ga.
Swindle is survived by his wife, Chelsey, their son, Paxton Michael; five brothers including his twin, John Daniel; and his parents, Jerry and Joyce Swindle of Fort Worth.
Two of Swindle’s brothers wrote a song for him after hearing of his death.
“We just want to sing straight to him today,” one told the crowd at the funeral service as the other grabbed his guitar. “Please sing withus. Sing to Jason.”
Their voices, shaky with the strain of holding back tears, grew stronger with each line.
“Soldier-boy, wandering far from home, living out the life of your dreams. Through the autumn wind, you heard heaven calling your name, ‘Come home, child, come home.’”
They called to the congregation, which filled every seatand lined the walls of First Baptist Church, to sing the chorus, which was printed on the program.
“May you find love, may you find peace ....”
Sgt. Swindle’s father, a Baptist minister, said the births Dec. 3, 1987, of Jason and his twin, John, “rocked” the world for him and his wife. Each boy weighed 4 pounds.
“They fit in the palm ofmy hand,” he said, his voice faintly cracking as he looked down at the picture of his tall, strong son propped up next to his casket. “Oh Jason, he loved his mother’s pancakes and his grandmother’s turnip greens. That boy could eat, now.”
Jerry Swindle described his son as a natural leader with a tender heart. He recounted a story about when his son was stationed in Germany and was playing with some children during a social gathering. Helet them paint his nails and then returned the favor.
“He was a leader of men. And I was never so proud of our baby boy, Jason,” Jerry Swindle said. “What a gift he was to us. If life is given, it can be taken away. And guys, it will be. Life has its limits.”
He looked at his wife, seated in the front row, and said, “Grief, honey, is the price we pay to love.”
Then he told the congregation about a picture Chelsey, his son’s widow, had showed him on her cell phone as they drove away from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware after watching Sgt. Swindle’s coffinbeing unloaded from a military transport plane.
It was a picture of her husband from behind as he held his 1-year-old son in his right arm.
“It showed his strong, strong, strapping shoulders holding Paxton,” Jerry Swindle said.
The child was looking back at the camera, calm and happy, safe and at peace, he said.
Jerry Swindle said that was how he imagined his son in heaven, cradled in God’s right arm.
“That’s how I’m going to remember my son.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 09/30/2012