Pocono News Section

Final Farewell to Fallen Soldier from Pittston

Final Farewell to Fallen Soldier from Pittston - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 7:00PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 @ 07:00pm EST
PITTSTON, LUZERNE COUNTY - A true American hero. That's how hundreds of people remembered a fallen Pennsylvania patriot in Luzerne County Wednesday morning.

Funeral services were held at Saint Mary, Help of Christians Church, in Pittston just after 11:00 AM. Family and friends came to honor 1LT Jeff DePrimo of Pittston.

"He was a great kid. Its an honor to be here. I'm a Vietnam veteran and when it hits so close to home here, it really, really hurts and it hurts the whole community," DePrimo's former neighbor Jim Tighe said.

Inside the funeral mass, mourners heard songs that the 35-year-old recorded. His best friends and family members remembered DePrimo as a down-to-Earth guy and brave soldier.

"Its something that he wanted to do. He wanted to go there. Knowing him, that's what he wanted to do and there was no talking him out of it," family friend Tom McGuire said.

"I was just amazed at listening to his family and friends in church. It truely was a celebration of a wonderful individual, a wonderful person who gave it all," West Pittston mayor Bill Goldsworthy said.

At DePrimo's burial site, the Hughestown cemetery, a bugler signalled the tremendous loss felt by the entire community. As family and friends received his Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, DePrimo's death hit home.

"It's just a sad day. I think that it's an honor, everything that everyone has done for him and the family," family friend Judy DeGilio said.

"He's just an American hero. He's a hero for all of us," Tighe said.

The DePrimo family is asking that any donations in Jeff DePrimo's name be made to the Family Readiness Group at the West Pittston Armory. DePrimo was based with the 109th Infantry at the facility.