Fallen Marine returns to his home county

By MARY KAYE DAVIS

mary.kaye@register-news.com

ST. LOUIS — Sobbing filled the cold, windy night air as a Marine honor guard carried Lance Cpl. Jonathan Kyle Price’s flag-covered casket to a hearse Wednesday night to begin his trip home to Jefferson County.

Once back home, an estimated 1,000 people were there to pay their respects.

Price, 19, son of David Price and Cheryl Price Hunsell and stepson of John Hunsell, was killed Friday afternoon in Iraq by gunfire while shielding Marine engineers.

Led by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and Illinois State Police, about 20 vehicles left from Price’s church — Woodlawn Christian Church — around 6 p.m. Wednesday night to pay respects to the fallen Marine and to bring his body home.

At Lambert Field in St. Louis, about a hundred other friends and family members joined the group to participate in the procession.

Price’s inspection was not open to the public.

As the entourage traveled from St. Louis to Jefferson County, flags were being flown and a sheriff’s department vehicle from each county on the route escorted the procession through its county.

The procession arrived back in Jefferson County around 11 p.m. and was met at the Woodlawn exit of Interstate 64 by the Woodlawn Fire Department.

As the procession traveled slowly through the 2004 Woodlawn High School graduate’s hometown, candles lit the night, flags were flown and there were tears.

Once at Shiloh Drive on Ilinois 15, Mt. Vernon police officers and firefighters and Jefferson Fire Protection District members joined the procession. Fire and police personnel were posted at each intersection from the westside interstate interchange to downtown, saluting the young man who gave his life for his country.

People at the airport said they felt it was only right to take the time to honor Price.

Al Smith, commander of the Heartland Young Marines, of which Price was a member, said Price exemplified what a Young Marine should be.

“He was eager to help those who had problems,” Smith said. “He was kind and very considerate. He was just a model young man. I feel very fortunate and proud to have had him in this organization.

“This is a true loss for everyone. If more young people would follow in his footsteps, the world would be a much better place.”

Nancy Smith said Price always fondly referred to her as “grandma.” She came to know Price and his two sisters through Woodlawn’s Positive Youth Development Program.

“No matter where he saw me, on the street or at the mall, he’d always holler and call me grandma,” Smith said. “He was the sweetest and kindest young man and was a very, very special person.”

Smith said she has four grandsons, one of whom served in the military. It could have easily been him who was killed, she said.

“I just loved Kyle. He was someone that just attracted you,” Smith said. “I just fell apart when I heard what had happened to him. For such a young man to die so early just isn’t right. But he believed in what he was doing.

“I just wanted to be here to support the whole family and to show that I cared. A person just can’t say enough about him.”

Price’s grandmother, Linda Wall of Martinsville, Ind., described her grandson as a “beautiful boy, both inside and out.”

“He had a great personality and would do anything for anyone,” Wall said. “He was a wonderful young man and one of a kind. He knew what he wanted in life and he was going for it. He had always wanted to be a Marine. That’s all he talked about.”

Calling hours for Price will begin at 4 p.m. today at Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon. His funeral will be held 1 p.m. Friday at Woodlawn Christian Church.

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