Robert Augustine Seidel III

West Point, 2004

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Frederick News Post on January 29, 2007:

Soldier's body arrives at U.S. air base Publish Date: 05/23/06 By Erin Henk News-Post Staff EMMITSBURG -- The body of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Robert Seidel III returned to the United States about 1:30 p.m. Monday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Lt. Seidel's body will be kept at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs for several days while it is prepared to be sent to Stauffer Funeral Home in Thurmont, according to Lt. Seidel's mother Sandy and the Dover Air Force Base Department of Public Affairs. Lt. Seidel, 23, was killed Thursday while on a routine patrol in Baghdad when the Humvee he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device. A lieutenant colonel came to his parents house in Gettysburg, Pa., the same day to inform his family of the death. Robert Seidel Jr., Lt. Seidel's father, said he wasn't exactly sure when his son's body would arrive back in Maryland, but he believes it could be Thursday or Friday. The body will be identified, cosmetized, dressed in full military uniform and placed in a casket before it is shipped to the funeral home, according to the office of public affairs at Dover Air Force Base. Lt. Seidel's funeral will be held in the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, located in St. Joseph's Provincial House in Emmitsburg. A date and time for Lt. Seidel's funeral are being arranged. He will be buried in St. Joseph's Church Cemetery on South Seton Avenue in Emmitsburg. More than two dozen veterans are buried at the church's two cemeteries. The Rev. James Kiernan, a former pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church who now lives in Philadelphia, will conduct the funeral. The Rev. Kiernan met Robert Seidel Jr. when his son was 12 years old. The Rev. Kiernan was in a seminary at the time and working with youth during the summer. Over the years, the Rev. Kiernan remained in contact with Mr. Seidel. He married Robert and Sandy Seidel and got to know Lt. Seidel during visits to Emmitsburg over the years. In 2000, the Rev. Kiernan was assigned to St. Joseph's Church in Emmitsburg. The Rev. Kiernan said Lt. Seidel helped him move into the church rectory. "He was nice young man, a respectable young man," the Rev. Kiernan said. "What I most liked about Rob, particularly when he got older, was his sense of humor. He had this good, dry wit about him." When he heard the news of Lt. Seidel's death, the Rev. Kiernan said he called the family, who then asked him to conduct the funeral. "Personally, I think it's a privilege," he said. "I appreciated that they asked me." The Rev. Vincent O'Malley has been pastor at St. Joseph's for the past two years. He said he, too, got to know Lt. Seidel when the young man made visits home. "He was very bright and a man of integrity and a man of self-sacrifice. Everybody spoke of him as a very caring person, who (did) good for others," the Rev. O'Malley said. Flags throughout Thurmont are at half-staff, he said. "I think the whole town of Emmitsburg feels this death, deeply." During his Sunday service, the Rev. O'Malley spoke about Lt. Seidel to his congregation. "The whole town and surrounding neighborhoods are heartbroken at this tragic loss," read the homily. "My friends, life is short. Whether we live 23 years like Rob Seidel, or 70-80 as the Scriptures say, our lives are over 'like a passing shadow.'" Shannon Boyle, telecommunications manager at St. Joseph's Provincial House, also remembered Lt. Seidel. She said the entire town is in mourning. The funeral is going to be held at the basilica because it is larger than the church, she said. "The 800 seats are going to be filled," Ms. Boyle said. Lt. Seidel was a rifle platoon leader with the 2nd Battalion in the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, N.Y. He was a 2000 graduate of Catoctin High School and a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. At the Seidel's home in Gettysburg, Ms. Seidel said the family has received an outpouring of condolences from friends, family and strangers. "We've gotten cards from people who don't even know us," she said. She said the family is taking things day by day. "We just keep trying to convince ourselves that this is what he wanted to do and regardless of the outcome he would do it again." http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=49160

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