Relatives And Friends Gather For Oklahoma Soldier's Funeral

Wednesday, June 6th 2007, 6:34 am

By: News On 6

ARDMORE, Okla. (AP) -- When Clinton Coy Blodgett was in Head-Start, he and his classmates stood outside and waved American flags as a caravan of buses carrying troops deployed for Operation Desert Storm passed by.

Jerrye Southward, who taught the then-4-year-old Blodgett, says now the pre-schoolers wave flags for him. On Tuesday, Southward remembered the 19-year-old Army specialist, who died May 26th in Baghdad, Iraq.

In nearby Lone Grove and Ardmore, people stood along the street and watched as Blodgett's funeral procession passed.

The Reverend Jimmie Morris of the Church of Jesus Christ Gospel Tabernacle in Ringling said Blodgett's heart was in defending freedom and defending the innocent.

Morris says Blodgett had honored them more than they could ever honor him.