![](http://www.post-gazette.com/images2/20040205jb_funeralPJ01_230.jpg)
Gabriel Sturges, 16 months, is held by Donna Giannetto during a funeral service for Gabriel's father, Army Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Apollo. Sturges was killed when a truck bomb struck the Humvee he was in near the Iraqi city of Khalidiyah. (John Beale, Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04036/269500.stmThe funeral was filled with words and images of peace.
From the mural of Jesus rising up above the pulpit with his hands outstretched and welcoming.
To the words of the minister to the people gathered before her.
To the three white doves released on top of the snow-covered hill as Spc. William R. Sturges Jr.'s body was laid to rest.
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His wife, also an Army specialist, was stationed in Iraq at the time of the attack, as well. She is an Army medic and was serving with the 21st Combat Support Hospital when her husband was killed.
Yesterday, in a church filled with dozens of soldiers, Deida Sturges was a wife first. She did not wear her military uniform. She did not salute the officers who presented her with her husband's Purple Heart and Bronze Star.