Funeral Held For Vinita Marine Killed In Iraq

VINITA, Okla. (AP) -- Bikers sporting American flags by the dozens provided a thunderous send-off Monday for a U.S. Marine who died while defusing a bomb in Iraq.<br/><br/>Mourners filled the Cowboy Junction

Monday, July 17th 2006, 9:20 am

By: News On 6

VINITA, Okla. (AP) -- Bikers sporting American flags by the dozens provided a thunderous send-off Monday for a U.S. Marine who died while defusing a bomb in Iraq.

Mourners filled the Cowboy Junction Church and lined Main Street to mark the passing of Sgt. Justin Noyes, 23. Family and friends in this Craig County town of about 6,500 people, about 50 miles northeast of Tulsa, remembered a young man who loved to laugh.

His mother, Stacey Noyes, said the family was trying to celebrate his life rather than his death.

Noyes died July 2 in Fallujah, Iraq, while attempting to defuse a bomb with a robot, according to family.

Noyes joined the Marines in 2000, shortly after his graduation from Vinita High School, where he played defensive end on the football team and shortstop on the baseball team.

He served a year's tour in Iraq, and during time back in the U.S., he married a woman from Connecticut in May 2005. He then was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, where he trained in ordnance demolition, before being deployed again to Iraq in February.

Marines from across the country attended the funeral, many on motorcycles. Those bikes formed part of a 4-mile to 5-mile long procession through Vinita. Many businesses closed for the day, and flags were draped throughout the city.