Thousands Turn Out on Miles-Long Procession Route
By Mark Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ryan P. Baumann left the Maryland suburbs to serve his country in Iraq and Afghanistan. His journey brought him back to the region yesterday, when he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in front of hundreds gathered to pay their respects.
Sgt. Baumann, 24, of Great Mills, Md., died Aug. 1 on Route Alaska, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered a makeshift bomb, the Department of Defense said.
More than 150 mourners gathered at the cemetery's Section 60 before the burial service, their cars lining Halsey Drive. They were soon joined by more than 100 family members and friends who followed Baumann's flag-cloaked wood coffin.
In Southern Maryland, residents lined the procession route from funeral services earlier in the morning in Leonardtown to the cemetery in Arlington County. Thousands turned out along Route 5 in Leonardtown to pay their respects, WJLA-TV (Channel 7) reported .
Folded flags were presented to Baumann's father and mother, after which Army Secretary Pete Geren spoke to the family.
Though Baumann was still in school when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred, "he wanted to do everything he could for his country," his mother, Cindy Lohman said last week, and he was willing to enter a hazardous occupation. "He knew that was his job."
Lohman said her son intended to make the Army his career and believed he was "keeping the terrorists from coming onto U.S. soil."
Baumann, a motor transport operator, was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based at Fort Campbell, Ky. He joined the Army in May 2004 and arrived at Fort Campbell that September, Army officials said.
During his service, he earned several honors, including the Meritorious Service Medal, an Army Commendation Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
Born in Ohio, he spent part of his childhood in Germany, where his mother was a civilian nurse for the Defense Department. In Germany, Baumann identified with the troops and their sense of commitment, his mother said.
After returning to the United States with his mother and stepfather, he lived in St. Mary's County and graduated from Great Mills High School in 2003.
It was at Great Mills that Baumann met his future fiancee, Lauren Smith. Smith told the Baltimore Sun that she and Baumann spent time together hiking and enjoying the outdoors, and that he proposed to her atop a mountain in Tennessee. They were to be married Jan. 10.
Smith said last week that she understood that Baumann saw the roadside explosive, and veered Humvee so that he absorbed the greatest force of the blast. All who were with him survived, which is how he would have wanted it, she said.
"He loved his guys," Smith said. "Ryan was a hero. He really believed in what he was doing."
His father, Robert Baumann, lives in Jeffersonville, Ind. He has described his son as "a hero . . . a loving fiance . . . and the best friend that I could ever have."
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
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