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Sunday, May 2, 2004
Emotional service pays tribute to Gelineau
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Lavinia Gelineau rested her head on her husband's flag-draped coffin. Then she gazed at, kissed and gently touched his framed photograph. Among many sad moments at Saturday's memorial service for Sgt. Christopher D. Gelineau, nothing was more touching than the composed grace and eloquence of the wife who loved him. Gelineau, a member of the Maine Army National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion, was killed 12 days ago when Iraqi insurgents ambushed his convoy in Mosul. The 23-year-old college senior was the unit's first combat casualty since World War II, and many uniformed guard members were among hundreds of mourners on hand for the 90-minute service on the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus. Gelineau, who died with the rank of specialist, was promoted to sergeant posthumously. And Brig. Gen. John W. "Bill" Libby, head of the Maine Army National Guard, awarded him both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Gelineau, who grew up in Vermont, met his wife at USM three years ago. The two were married last May in her native country, Romania. On Valentine's Day, the newlyweds met up at Fort Drum in New York, where Gelineau assured her they would see each other again. And he gave her a pink teddy bear that she embraced as she spoke at the memorial service. "I haven't cried for three days, and you must be holding me, must be supporting me, because I used to cry every time that an ambulance went by," Lavinia Gelineau said. The two were hopeless lovers, she said, kissing before and after every class at USM. "You showed me what perfect love was when other people could not even dream of true love," she said. "I used to call you my sweet American pie. You used to call me your sweet Romanian chocolate." "I traveled half the world to meet you, and I found you," she said. "You must be carrying me now because my heart is very light." Lavinia Gelineau remembered how the couple planned to avoid the bustle of modern American life enough to eat three meals together each day. And she recalled how they talked about choosing a song that would be their own. She wanted it to be a love song, but he knew how to play only one song on his guitar, and it was a sad one. Before the crowded gymnasium, Lavinia Gelineau's voice trembled as she played the song, "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx, while mourners dabbed their eyes. Earlier, Maine National Guard Chaplain Andrew Gibson spoke about Gelineau's high standards as a guardsman. He said Gelineau had been pursuing - on his own time - ways to increase the efficiency of convoys in Iraq. The idea - made poignant because of how Gelineau died - was that increased efficiency would reduce the number of convoys, making soldiers less vulnerable to attack, Gibson said. Other speakers included Gelineau's mother, Victoria Chicoine, and an uncle. Friends and relatives wore buttons with the slain soldier's photo and the words: "Chris Gelineau Always in our Hearts." Others pinned yellow ribbons to their lapels. Gov. John Baldacci presented Lavinia Gelineau a Maine flag that had flown over the state capitol, and U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins also gave their condolences. At the end of the memorial service, six soldiers wheeled the coffin out of the gymnasium. Lavinia Gelineau, trailing just behind, reached out and touched it again. Following the service, Gelineau was buried with full military honors at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. Staff Writer Kevin Wack can be contacted at 282-8226 or at:
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Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram journalists