CW5 Bryan Henderson Laid to Rest
By: Nick Lawton
Updated: March 22, 2013
In Winnsboro, the Red, White and Blue flies on every street and every corner in honor of Chief Warrant Officer Bryan Henderson.
Henderson was killed in a Blackhawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan one week ago, a loss now etched on the faces of his friends and family.
Local veterans arrived at Bryan's funeral at Temple Baptist Church to show their respect and ease a pain they've shared before.
"I've seen combat in Vietnam, the killing, everything, and escorted bodies back once before," said Samuel White with the American Legion Post 559. "Just be strong and know it's a thing you never get over but you just have to take one day at time."
After the funeral, Bryan's loved ones prepared for the nearly 15-mile journey to Bryan's final resting place, but this time, they're not riding alone.
This time they'll be escorted by 28 Patriot Guard Riders from Louisiana to Mississippi.
"From the church to the cemetery and stand a flag line in the cemetery to honor him and his family," Assistant State Captain of the Patriot Guard Riders of Louisiana, Kenny Case, said. "It's just something that they feel that it's an honor to take off and go do. The least we can do to honor somebody that gave their life for our country."
Every single mile, from funeral to burial, was filled with people standing on roadsides, in driveways, on trucks, all sending Bryan off and putting a smile on his family's faces.
"Strangers, families, friends, how they all turned out on the sides of the road with flags honoring Bryan," Bryan's cousin, Al Bryan, said. "That goes to show you what kind of person he was and what kind of people live around here in our community that he grew up in."
The procession ended at the Boeuf Prairie United Methodist Church Cemetery in Fort Necessity, Bryan's hometown, where he played "Robin Hood" as a child and tended to the fields as he got older, the kind of boy and man his family will always remember him as.
"The whole time all this was going on, all I could do was look up there and just think about how proud I was of him," Al said. "Growing up, he was the younger cousin that always looked up to me and, now, here at the end, I'm the one looking up to him."
A pride that Bryan's family shares with the community, proud of this soldier now, finally, home.
Henderson was killed in a Blackhawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan one week ago, a loss now etched on the faces of his friends and family.
Local veterans arrived at Bryan's funeral at Temple Baptist Church to show their respect and ease a pain they've shared before.
"I've seen combat in Vietnam, the killing, everything, and escorted bodies back once before," said Samuel White with the American Legion Post 559. "Just be strong and know it's a thing you never get over but you just have to take one day at time."
After the funeral, Bryan's loved ones prepared for the nearly 15-mile journey to Bryan's final resting place, but this time, they're not riding alone.
This time they'll be escorted by 28 Patriot Guard Riders from Louisiana to Mississippi.
"From the church to the cemetery and stand a flag line in the cemetery to honor him and his family," Assistant State Captain of the Patriot Guard Riders of Louisiana, Kenny Case, said. "It's just something that they feel that it's an honor to take off and go do. The least we can do to honor somebody that gave their life for our country."
Every single mile, from funeral to burial, was filled with people standing on roadsides, in driveways, on trucks, all sending Bryan off and putting a smile on his family's faces.
"Strangers, families, friends, how they all turned out on the sides of the road with flags honoring Bryan," Bryan's cousin, Al Bryan, said. "That goes to show you what kind of person he was and what kind of people live around here in our community that he grew up in."
The procession ended at the Boeuf Prairie United Methodist Church Cemetery in Fort Necessity, Bryan's hometown, where he played "Robin Hood" as a child and tended to the fields as he got older, the kind of boy and man his family will always remember him as.
"The whole time all this was going on, all I could do was look up there and just think about how proud I was of him," Al said. "Growing up, he was the younger cousin that always looked up to me and, now, here at the end, I'm the one looking up to him."
A pride that Bryan's family shares with the community, proud of this soldier now, finally, home.
