- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Fallen soldier welcomed home in Tuesday procession
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The body of a young soldier who was raised in Lake County returned to his family and community on Tuesday in the final leg of a sad and solemn homecoming.
Sgt. Richard Essex’s body was flown on Tuesday morning from the East Coast to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa.
There, family, close friends and an honor guard of members of the military, California Highway Patrol and Lakeport Police officers were gathered to escort him to Lake County.
Essex, 23, of Kelseyville was one of 11 people who died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash on Thursday, August 16, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Essex was serving in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He was the Black Hawk’s door gunner on its final mission.
As the hearse carrying Essex’s body headed north on Highway 101, the passing procession was saluted by community members, law enforcement and firefighters.
Originally, Essex’s procession had been scheduled to come over Highway 175 on the Hopland Grade. However, the size of the procession – along with the hearse there were numerous private vehicles as well as those of local law enforcement agencies and dozens of Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycles – made it necessary to change routes.
Instead, the procession went on to Ukiah and then headed east on Highway 20, turning onto Highway 29 at Upper Lake.
While there was about an hour of delay in his arrival – originally the procession had been set to pass through Kelseyville at noon and Lakeport at 12:15 p.m. – community members stayed on the streets of Kelseyville and Lakeport, waiting for the chance to see him pass.
At his request, the procession went through his hometown, past Kelseyville High School, where he graduated in 2008.
Then it was on to Lakeport, where American flags had been set up by city workers all along Main Street. About 200 people lined the procession’s path in the block at Courthouse Square.
In the few breathless minutes that it took for the procession to pass, it seemed the only sound was the rumble of motorcycle engines and the vehicles following Essex’s hearse.
People of all ages lined the route, many of them holding American flags, watching the hearse pass without speaking. Some family members riding in the vehicles that followed the hearse waved to those who lined the route.
At Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary, with the pathway bounded by flags and salutes, Essex’s casket was taken from the hearse by an honor guard, with family gathering for a private service.
Essex’s family has invited the community to a public memorial service that will take place beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, on the football field at Kelseyville High School, 5480 Main St.
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