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Ohio Marine is buried in Arlington

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va. — They buried a son of the heartland — a Marine with baseball in his blood — on a gray Tuesday morning in this solemn resting place of heroes.

The Bell Family (enlarge photo) Lance Cpl. Timothy Michael Bell Jr., 22, of West Chester, Ohio.

The exploits of Lance Cpl. Timothy Michael Bell Jr.'s kinsmen are chronicled on sports pages and ESPN. His late grandfather, Gus Bell, was a home run-hitting outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds from 1953 to 1961. His uncle Buddy Bell was an infielder for the Reds in the mid-1980s and is now manager of the Kansas City Royals. His cousin David Bell plays third base for the Philadelphia Phillies, and another cousin, Mike Bell, also played professional baseball.

But Tim Bell always wanted to be a Marine.

The network news and newspaper front pages across the country carried the dispatch from Iraq when he and 13 comrades from the Ohio-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines were killed in a roadside bombing Aug. 3. The attack on a U.S. assault vehicle was one of the deadliest in the war.

"He would not have wanted to die any other way," said Greg McDaniel, the pastor of Impact Baptist Church in Bridgetown, Ohio. McDaniel officiated Sunday at a memorial service at Lakota East High School in Liberty Township, Ohio, where Tim Bell had decided to join the Marine Corps.

"Tim Bell believed in freedom," said the pastor, according to the Associated Press. "He believed there were some things worth fighting for and some things worth dying for."

On Tuesday morning, Bell, 22, was buried under threatening skies in Section 60, Grave 8208. Scores of others who have died in Iraq also lie beneath stark stone markers on the grassy hillside. So far, 165 U.S. military dead from Iraq have been buried in Arlington, nearly a tenth of those who have been killed there.

Although all are eligible for burial here, "some families prefer to have them close by" in hometown cemeteries, explained Lori Calvillo, a spokeswoman for Arlington.

Others feel the earthly remains of their fallen sons and daughters should eternally stay here with their comrades from America's other wars.

"The significance of Arlington National Cemetery speaks for itself.," said John Prazynski of Fairfield, Ohio, whose 20-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, is buried not far from the fresh grave of Tim Bell.

"My son loved being in the Marines. He knew what he was signed up for," said Prazynski.

"I feel great pride for Timothy Bell, knowing that he wanted to be a Marine so bad," Prazynski said. "My heart hurts for his family because I know how my family's hearts hurt."

Prazynski was at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Sunday to meet members of his son's unit as they returned from combat duty. When he read that Bell was to be buried at Arlington on Tuesday, he decided to attend and also make his first visit to the grave of his son, who was buried here in May.

He did not speak to the Bell family, however.

"I can't tell that family I know how they feel. I don't even know how I feel," he said. "It hurts."

"A parent doesn't expect to bury his son," he said.

He expressed sympathy for Cindy Sheehan, who is holding a peace vigil outside President Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas. Her son, Casey, was killed in Iraq.

"God bless her. You know what? My son fought for her freedom, so she could camp out down there," he said.

But he does not support her cause.

"Do I think we should quit and pull out? Absolutely not. I support the war on terror," he said. "Is every one of those lives (that are lost) significant? Absolutely. We can't give up. We can't just say there are too many guys dying, so let's go home."

He was asked if the recent deaths of the Ohio reservists bought back his own pain.

"It didn't bring it back to me because it never went away," he said.

Another family from the heartland faces that question now. When Tim Bell left for Iraq, he left his beloved Marine Corps ring with his father. Now his mother has the American flag that draped his coffin.

Their son was saluted by the sound of seven rifles firing three times. A bugler played the haunting notes of "Taps."

Then it was over. A gentle rain fell. The mourners moved on.

Bob Dart's e-mail address is bobdart@coxnews.com

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