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Photo credit: Ed Betz | The coffin of Army Sgt. Bill McKenna is carried out of a funeral home in Lindenhurst. (Jan. 3, 2011)
Army Sgt. Bill McKenna, who served two terms in Iraq and died last week of lymphoma, was buried Monday on his native Long Island, where he was inspired to serve his country following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Funeral home director Eric Johnston spoke of McKenna's service and sacrifice at the soldier's funeral.
"When the call of our country was heard, he marched away with abiding faith in his country and his flag," Johnston said at the Johnstons' Wellwood Funeral Home in Lindenhurst, as about a hundred mourners sniffled and dabbed their eyes.
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McKenna's wife, Dina, believes McKenna contracted lymphoma after being exposed to constant smoke from trash being burned by the military in Iraq during his two tours in Iraq. Experts fear thousands inIraq and Afghanistan may have been exposed to toxic smoke from so-called "burn pits."
McKenna, 41, a former West Babylon resident, died in Spring Hill, Fla., but he was brought to Long Island for the funeral and subsequent burial at Calverton National Cemetery.
After seeing New York City's devastation from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, McKenna was determined "to go and fight for the country," his wife said Friday.
McKenna, who was born on the Fourth of July and had proudly worn his Boy Scouts uniform as a child, went to the Army recruiting office and joined the military in 2002, leaving for Iraq a year later. He served two tours of duty there.
His burial ceremony at the cemetery Monday was quiet and solemn, with mourners laying flowers on top of his coffin after an honor guard let off a gun salute and presented Dina McKenna with the flag draped on his coffin.
"He will be missed," said his cousin John Radenacher of Levittownafter the burial ceremony.
Besides his wife, McKenna is survived by two daughters, Katelynn, 13, and Sabrina, 5; his father Pat, his mother, Kathleen McKenna, of Pensacola, Fla.; and his brother, Brett McKenna, ofPhiladelphia.
Thank you, Bill. You will be missed.
