By Derek Spellman and Greg Grisolano
Globe Staff Writers
GIRARD, Kan. — While Americans awakened to news that U.S. forces had killed the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq, this small town — where “everybody knows everybody,” as one resident put it — mourned its fallen.
The funeral of Marine Cpl. Richard “Ricky” Bennett, 25, of Girard, drew most, if not all, of Girard’s residents, said Connie Edwards, a family cousin. Bennett was killed May 30 in Iraq when his helicopter crashed into a lake during a test flight outside Baghdad.
“Everybody loves them,” Edwards said of the family. “Nobody was a stranger (to them).”
The funeral drew about 250 members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcyclists who attend funeral services for American troops upon request from the families.
“Our mission here is to support the family,” said Bob Peters, of Pittsburg, the Patriot Guard ride captain. “One is too many, but any time an American hero has died, we’ll come out at the request of the family. It’s unfortunate, it’s sad, but this is something we do with pride and honor.”
The riders also form a human buffer against members of Westboro Baptist Church, a Topeka-based group that claims American casualties in Iraq are God’s punishment for toleration of homosexuality.
The church’s pastor, Fred Phelps, did not protest Bennett’s funeral in person, but sent more than a half-dozen family and church members instead.
Gathering on the other side of a field separating them from St. Michael’s Hall, where funeral services took place, the protesters stepped on an American flag, decried American troops, and waved signs declaring “Fag vets” and “God’s view,” showing Uncle Sam in cross hairs.
“Jesus Christ said, ‘Let the dead bury the dead,’” said Jacob Phelps, 22, a grandson of Fred Phelps. “They should have left his (Bennett’s) carcass right on the ground. That would be the best thing for this nation.”
Members of the Patriot Guard staged their own demonstration in response, holding aloft flags to screen the protesters and playing patriotic music or revving their bikes to drown out the protesters’ voices.
The protesters from Westboro gathered in a spot less than a stone’s throw from where the Bennett clan lived many years ago, said neighbor Margaret Nelson. The house was across from Girard High School, which later purchased the property and razed it, Nelson said.
Because St. Michael’s Hall was jammed with people during the funeral services, many paid their respects from where they stood. They watched the funeral sitting in their front yards, on the beds of pickup trucks and on back porches. Outside houses lining the funeral procession route, they waved flags and hand-made signs, and dressed their houses and mailboxes with flags.
Nelson said the Bennetts are a popular family, known for being quiet, hardworking and close.
“They’re good, homebody people,” she said. “Their children are their life.”
The law and protesters
Kansas has a law restricting protests at funerals, but Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton said courts have interpreted the law in several ways.
For Richard “Ricky” Bennett’s funeral, members of Westboro Baptist Church were allowed to protest until the services began at 10:30 a.m. More than 20 uniformed officers were at the protest to ensure order. Horton said there were no problems.
